It seems rather Curious that any Event could stay Pertinent for more than 24 Hours in our Age of fast-moving News.Yet, such an Event has retained its Relevance.... Even 233 Years after the Fact.
One could even be so Bold as to Declare (Pardon the Pun) that this momentous Day is even more Relevant today than when it was first Initiated.
July 4, 1776.
Just in Case you the Reader might have Missed the Title.
Or perhaps even Forgotten.
Oh no, it's quite Easy to Forget Nowadays...I really wouldn't Blame you if you Did. What, with all the big Sales and Vacation time and Everything....Oh, and in the wake of the "Great Dismantling 2009" of just About Everything it once stood for...
One hears often Today referred to merely by the Date on the Calendar "July 4th" or "The Fourth of July" than by its Official name...Independence Day. Perhaps because it's shorter to Say "July 4th," or Maybe we take for Granted that Every American knows just what this Day is About...Or, Dare I say it, it could be for an even more deliberate Reason...to De-emphasize the very Idea of One's own Independence.
Ponder that for a Moment...Don't worry....I'll wait.
How often nowadays does One hear Phrases such as, "It takes a Village to Raise a Childe" or about the "Impact" something will have On "The Community?"
How often does One hear in this Day and Age that Government is the only Answer for Our current Economic Troubles? Or that "Only by coming Together can We accomplish Our Goas" Or that One should do something for the "Common Goode" or for the 'Goode of The whole Planet?"
What about You?
What about Your "Common Goode?"
What about the "Goode" of your own Home, your State, Your own Town?
Our great and Noble Ancestors did not Declare their Independence (and ours by Extension) for the "Goode of All Mankind" (well, at least not First and Foremost.) They Declared Independence first for the Good of THEIR own Kind....Because they no longer Wished to Surrender the bulk of the Fruits of their hard-earned Labours to a detatched Government thousands of Miles away, a Government that wished to Dictate in far more areas of their Lives than was previously the Custom in America.
How often Today are We the People in one State or Town "Forcefully Asked" to Surrender our funds and resources to the detatched Federal Bureaucracy so that They may in turn prop up another State, Town, or Personal pet piggy bank of an Interest Group, that we may have no Interest in Ourselves, nor a need for?
How often are You Lectured by Public Figure after Public Figure, Safety Board after Safety Board, and From one meaningless Council after another about their "Need" for you to Eat less of this, or Drive less in that, or give up such and such a Right in Order to be more in tune with the Times and "Enlightened" to current Issues?
The Declaration of Independence was already Written in the "Age of Enlightenment."
Is it Possible that Our Forefathers demonstrated more "Enlightenment" in this one brief Document than our current Leaders and Public Figures could in Volumes of Legislation?
And how are these current "Volumes of Legislation" in keeping with the Principles of that Document, those of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?
Let us Henceforth each, as Individuals, make this solemn Pledge to Ourselves alone in turn, to make every effort to Wish for Others a "Happy Independence Day" rather than just a "Happy July 4th Weekend."
Perhaps in so doing this for Starters, the Idea that truly is Independence may yet One Day come back into Fashion...for without Individual Independence there can be no Common Goode.
Happy INDEPENDENCE Day.
One could even be so Bold as to Declare (Pardon the Pun) that this momentous Day is even more Relevant today than when it was first Initiated.
July 4, 1776.
Just in Case you the Reader might have Missed the Title.
Or perhaps even Forgotten.
Oh no, it's quite Easy to Forget Nowadays...I really wouldn't Blame you if you Did. What, with all the big Sales and Vacation time and Everything....Oh, and in the wake of the "Great Dismantling 2009" of just About Everything it once stood for...
One hears often Today referred to merely by the Date on the Calendar "July 4th" or "The Fourth of July" than by its Official name...Independence Day. Perhaps because it's shorter to Say "July 4th," or Maybe we take for Granted that Every American knows just what this Day is About...Or, Dare I say it, it could be for an even more deliberate Reason...to De-emphasize the very Idea of One's own Independence.
Ponder that for a Moment...Don't worry....I'll wait.
How often nowadays does One hear Phrases such as, "It takes a Village to Raise a Childe" or about the "Impact" something will have On "The Community?"
How often does One hear in this Day and Age that Government is the only Answer for Our current Economic Troubles? Or that "Only by coming Together can We accomplish Our Goas" Or that One should do something for the "Common Goode" or for the 'Goode of The whole Planet?"
What about You?
What about Your "Common Goode?"
What about the "Goode" of your own Home, your State, Your own Town?
Our great and Noble Ancestors did not Declare their Independence (and ours by Extension) for the "Goode of All Mankind" (well, at least not First and Foremost.) They Declared Independence first for the Good of THEIR own Kind....Because they no longer Wished to Surrender the bulk of the Fruits of their hard-earned Labours to a detatched Government thousands of Miles away, a Government that wished to Dictate in far more areas of their Lives than was previously the Custom in America.
How often Today are We the People in one State or Town "Forcefully Asked" to Surrender our funds and resources to the detatched Federal Bureaucracy so that They may in turn prop up another State, Town, or Personal pet piggy bank of an Interest Group, that we may have no Interest in Ourselves, nor a need for?
How often are You Lectured by Public Figure after Public Figure, Safety Board after Safety Board, and From one meaningless Council after another about their "Need" for you to Eat less of this, or Drive less in that, or give up such and such a Right in Order to be more in tune with the Times and "Enlightened" to current Issues?
The Declaration of Independence was already Written in the "Age of Enlightenment."
Is it Possible that Our Forefathers demonstrated more "Enlightenment" in this one brief Document than our current Leaders and Public Figures could in Volumes of Legislation?
And how are these current "Volumes of Legislation" in keeping with the Principles of that Document, those of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?
Let us Henceforth each, as Individuals, make this solemn Pledge to Ourselves alone in turn, to make every effort to Wish for Others a "Happy Independence Day" rather than just a "Happy July 4th Weekend."
Perhaps in so doing this for Starters, the Idea that truly is Independence may yet One Day come back into Fashion...for without Individual Independence there can be no Common Goode.
Happy INDEPENDENCE Day.
~~ Silas DoGoode
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