What does the fourth of July really mean to you? Do you know--
or even care about what we are celebrating-- or is it just a great day for a
party and a parade? Every time you shoot off one of those bottle rockets, do
you think about the freedoms we enjoy in this country or are you maybe hoping
the neighbors won’t call the cops on you for your illegal fireworks. Then again
maybe, its just a little civil disobedience-- meant to show your hearts in the
right place-- but remember you have the freedom to do that in this country. Or
maybe, just maybe, you do recall what it’s all about and you don’t want to ever
forget. I hope and pray your hearts in the right place.
Yes I know, it’s hard to work up that patriotic fervor we
once had in this country. It’s been a long time since we signed the rules of
surrender with a country that had tried to conquer us. I personally stood on
the deck of that battle ship where it happened last spring in Pearl Harbor, and
it was a solemn moment for me. I could feel the presence of General Douglas
MacArthur as he accepted the Japanese surrender on that day of Sept 2nd
1945.That great battleship, the Missouri, is now moored over-looking the watery,
oily grave of the crew of the battleship Arizona where it all had started.
Symbolically it’s the alpha and the omega. Big Mo’s huge guns, now silent; cast
a solemn shadow over that sacred spot as if to say to those brave men interred
there, “We taught them a lesson not to mess with us.” There have been many wars
since that day in this world; that we have participated in, but none ended like
this, with a final resolution. The ranks of those World War II veterans, from
this country that fought their way across the pacific and into Germany, on
their way to the fall of Hitler and Berlin, are fast disappearing; as is their
countries pride they fought so hard for, earned and paid such a heavy price
for.
We don’t fight wars to win anymore. We fight politician’s
wars with rules that are crafted to prevent anything more then a tie, tip
toeing around in the world’s court of public opinion. Truth be told, a couple
of them weren’t even a tie and we got the short end of the stick. Yet, our
brave soldiers go fight in these countries with one hand tied behind their
backs and come home either dead or physically and mentally maimed, never
tasting victory and more often then not, scorned by the people who never wanted
them there in the first place. I think before we go to war again---unless we
are attacked---the rules should be, we raise taxes and pay for it right now and
the gloves are off. If were going to commit to sending our soldiers off to war
we should pay for it, not our grand kids and we should fight to win it, or stay
out of it.
I really believe that the freedoms we celebrate on the 4th
of July are in jeopardy but not by other countries so much. This country is on
the way to ruination and it’s not going to be a war that does us in. It’s going
to be us that will do us in. For you see those rules we once had drawn
up, as the blueprint for a great society, are being manipulated and litigated
to pieces by greedy people who have the money to buy off greedy politicians who
have the power to change the rules and they are fast doing that. As we
celebrate this 4th, lets remember those who stood for what was right
in this nation and let’s not desecrate their efforts-- their memory-- by
allowing our country to fade away, just another great society, torn apart by
greed and selfishness.
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