As you start this weekend, take a moment to consider the amazing country we live in. So much of what we have has been handed to us by the sacrifices of mostly anonymous people who lived a LONG time ago. The United States and the world certainly faces a long list of challenges in our day, but it also is the country best positioned to continue to offer the greatest opportunities and freedoms to those within its borders and around the world.
1776 may sound like a long time ago but in the context of world history, the US is still very young. No other country has had such a profound impact on the world in such a short time than the US. Consider just a handful of contributions: constitutional democracy, the library, harnessing electricity, bi-focals (thank you Benjamin Franklin for these three), the blues, gospel, Broadway and country music, television, nuclear power, baseball, the automobile, saving the free world three times (WWI, WWII, the cold war), polio vaccine, a functioning capitalist system that has raised the standard of living for the world, sufficient food to feed the entire world, iPods/Pads/Phones, religious liberty, women’s rights, public education for all, propane, Star Wars, the human genome decoding, Starbucks, John Steinbeck, YouTube, etc. To be sure, our civilization stands on the shoulders of prior people and their developments (thank you Greece, France and Mesopotamia) and we have had our share of struggles to improve and advance (thank you Abigale Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, etc.) but in a world that was fairly stagnant in its progress between 3,000 BC and 1700 AD, there have been quantum jumps in science, prosperity, learning and society in 300 short years! This corresponds, not coincidentally, with the rise of a country founded on some amazing principles and filled with amazing (hard working, self-sufficient, generous, religious) citizens. That is something to celebrate… particularly that we are both inheritors of and custodians of such an amazing legacy.
This will take a bit of your time, but this article is definitely worth reading sometime this week/weekend:
Our Ten Contributions to Civilization
Here is a video depicting the Constitutional Congress's vote to adopt the Declaration of Independence:
https://youtu.be/nrvpZxMfKaU
For Elementary level students of Dad's Academy, I've posted a separate video on the history and importance of July 4th and the formation of the United States.
It can all feel so “big” and we can be left wondering, “how does my little life make a difference”, “how do I play any significant part in all of this”? This is one of the most amazing parts of the social system and governmental structure that we have inherited: the strength of a republican democracy is not in one or two individual or even two hundred elite and important rulers... it resides in each citizen. The US will be great or not depending on the virtue and liberty that is retained in each person. You do make a difference! Every time you treat another person fairly, kindly and generously you contribute to the strength of the country. Every time you keep the laws, stand for truth, exercise your freedoms of conscience you contribute to the strength of the country. Every time you defend those who are oppressed, vote and fight oppression you contribute to the strength of the country. Every time you retain your inalienable rights and refuse to look to the government to provide you with food, housing, healthcare or other responsibilities that rightly belong to the individual, you contribute to the strength of the country. Any time you fail to do these things you contribute to the downfall of the country, to the weakening of the individual and the dissolution of freedom. What Benjamin Franklin said to a common citizen (a woman) back in 1787 applies to each one of us. As he emerged from the Constitutional Convention, she asked him what type of government the delegates had created for the nation, he answered "A republic, if you can keep it." It is not the job of the government to keep this great country, it is "your" job. Each one of ours.
Assignment 1: post a comment about one of the things you learned from the article or video above AND one of the ways you can keep this nation strong.
Assignment 2: eat a hot dog, watermelon or apple pie this weekend!
The video taught me that people have their own rights to vote yes or no like New York voted no and all the other ones are voting yes and that says that people have the right to say what ever they want to say. I could keep the nation strong by following the laws and what the President of the U.S says. ~Morgan:)
ReplyDeletePS for assignment two we do an annual breakfast for the Fourth of July we serve My Dad's pancakes and Laurel's vanilla syrup there is nothing better or more american hope you guys could join us one year.~Morgan:)
ReplyDelete