Fourth of July

INDEPENDENCE
DAY

In the “olden” days of the forties and fifties things were different than they are today. This is quite the understatement. People sang, “God bless America;” they called it, “land of the free;” they were, “proud to be an American,” because “at least they (knew) (they were) free.”  They knew that this country had been given certain inalienable rights by God. Among these rights were the gifts of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” God had blessed our nation with prosperity beyond anything known in the history of the world.

People would gather to celebrate the godsend of the place that they lived in on the Fourth of July. The crowds had a common understanding of and belief in the cornerstones that this country was anchored on. Such celebrations still occur today all across the country. They were all true for most of the people. For some they were not true. The sad thing is that the news media seems to joy in covering the anti-celebrations that occur here and there rather than the majority of what actually happens on July 4^th.

“Why is there so much feeling of hatred and dissatisfaction?” you might ask yourself. There are a lot of reasons.

• The historical mistreatment of some of the segments of American society.
•  While our country was formed of immigrant influx, which, in the early waves, comprised of people who felt blessed and joyful to come to this country to have better lives, this has not been the case in the more recent immigrant peoples.
•  The early immigrants did not just come for money. They came to have a better way of life. They embraced the culture and tried to assimilate.
•  More recent groups have come for the money. They seem bent on getting all they can get while giving back nothing. It also looks like they hate being here and gather into their little groups changing nothing about how they live or think. (Don’t get me wrong. I believe that people should hang onto their culture, but I also believe that they should bring some new thinking into it to make the culture even richer. That does not happen and in the end we witness hatred and a desire to cause harm to this country.)

Those of us, who love our country and are proud to be a citizen of the U.S.A., need to take a careful look at ourselves and our role in this problem. While we celebrated the great nation we were becoming we were also tramping on the freedoms of people in the way of our getting what we wanted. The treatment of the Native Americans is a huge blot on our national credit page. We also imported slaves to do our work for us. These people, kidnapped from their homes, were treated in unforgivable ways throughout the years, and are still not equal today. We excuse this treatment with the thought of how they seem to be living their lives on a plain that is below our happy mountaintop lives. Then there are the American poor who go to bed hungry and cannot find work. These problems are huge and need to be addressed in some way or another.

Instead of focusing on the problems of the oppressed Americans in our midst our country sends millions of dollars overseas to try to dam up foreign economies that are overflowing with what can be thought of as impossible problems. I believe it is the duty of the “haves” to help the “have-not’s,” but it should not be to the detriment of “have-not’s” in our own country. There needs to be a favorable median.

We are a nation of good hearted, loving people who have it on our hearts to help people less fortunate than ourselves. Many try to do whatever they can. Still I think that the problems have grown to such a proportion that they seem to be insurmountable. Do you believe that there seem to be no solutions? We believe that we have a God who can fix even the most impossible problems. When a problem seems unable to be solved we can truly know it is God at work when it is fixed. What is our role in the fixing?

IT IS FAITH AND PRAYER!

If my people, who are called by my name, 

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face 

and turn from their wicked ways, 
then I will hear from heaven, 

and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Let’s return to the time of…

Common valor that includes
Common Virtue!

Have a great Fourth of July
Work towards
 Liberty and Justice for all.