There’s nothing like sitting outside on the 4th of July, the birthday of the United States, listening to great patriotic music and hearing a new Lee Greenwood song.
Yes, I missed watching the traditional parade due to Covid-19 concerns, but I find myself thinking of all the blessings that my family and I enjoy; things that make our lives exciting and meaningful.
Those blessings include some very simple things to appreciate that easily could be taken for granted—sitting outside beside my wife on a beautiful, hot Texas day doing our daily Bible and devotional readings; watching our two black labs and giving one his favorite tummy rub; and stopping long enough to enjoy a late morning brunch while receiving grateful news that my wife’s Covid-19 test was negative.
God is so good to us—each of us—as evidenced by the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. We can never forget that America is a Judeo-Christian nation.
Last month I wrote about “Same Words – Different Meaning,” alerting readers to be discerning and not be so gullible as to be used by persons with a public agenda to bring you into the fray without you realizing you are being used.
Interestingly, last month’s article was finished just as the marches and riots were starting 
over the sad, disgraceful and unjustified death of George Floyd.
I think back to the days of my youth and to the wonderful job my Mom and Dad did to teach me to be color-blind to the color of a person’s skin, but to be discriminating regarding the character of a person’s life.
I do not accept racism in any form, but I see it present in every race of people – white, brown, black, yellow, red, etc.
We can do better! But let’s not forget, it also could be worse.
No matter how imperfect it is here in the USA, America is still the greatest country in the world.
There is hope for a better tomorrow, thanks in large part to our myriad of unsung heroes who gave us and continue to provide us our independence.
This is a good time for all of us to reflect on what is going on in the United States.
Words do matter
This is a time to be involved and not to be silent. In fact, silence can be considered a form of decadence – a moral or cultural decline. What do you want to be identified with? What do you support?
One example would be supporting an organization that seeks the following:
- true dignity for its members;
- freedom and justice;
- to challenge the current system we live in;
- to disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family;
- to support transgenderism;
- to foster a queer confirming network;
- to be free from predominant heterosexual thinking.
Are these the anchor values that YOU support?
Look deeper
Each of the above-listed seven principles is included as a part of the Manifesto of Black Lives Matter, established in 2013, and organized by three women, two of whom describe themselves as trained Marxists.
Of late, these women have added to their seven principles, stating that Black Lives Matter is an abolitionist group to eliminate the police and prisons.
How many people wanting the help black people have stood holding signs for Black Lives Matter (BLM) without first looking to see what the organization stands for?
Clearly—beyond any shadow of a doubt—the original BLM has a hard-line political agenda.
In 2016, BLM received $33 million from George Soros and more from other Open Society Foundations, including the Center for American Progress and the Ford Foundation.
There is a glaring absence in BLM’s literature of belief in God.
Let us work hard to help black people to have the dignity and justice every person deserves.
But let’s not be lured into supporting a Marxist agenda that seeks to eliminate God and that stands in direct opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
All the information about Black Lives Matter, the organization, its founding principles and its funding is readily available on the web.
I believe that black lives matter, including the lives of unborn black babies still in the womb.
In fact, all lives matter. Yet recent news headlines lamented the loss of a 24-year-old mother who was ambushed, shot and killed in Chicago just for saying that “all lives matter.”
What is freedom?
I often ask young people what is their definition of “freedom”?
To the Millennials and GenZ generation, it often comes back the response: “to be free to do what I want, when I want to do it.”
To those of us who are a little older and more experienced, we realize freedom confers a right to do what should be done, subject to proper authority.
Considering the first definition, one could ignore the rights of others, breakout the windows of one’s store, burn down the building, bring down statues, and even kill someone else with impunity.
Yes, that may be “doing what I want, when I want” for some, but clearly that’s not freedom.
There are boundaries that cannot be exceeded because if they are, there are societal consequences, including criminal prosecution.
So let’s wake up – Freedom Is Not Free.
Freedom is not “FREE”
Freedom has come at the expense of many good men and women’s lives to give us a country like no other. That is why so many people from other countries try everything they can do to get into America; for what America offers, for what it is and can still be.
Sadly too often America and its freedoms are taken for granted by many born here.
In the words of Ronald Reagan,
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what is was once like in the United States where men were free.
“If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price.”
What will you do?
Will you help pay the current price to maintain our freedom?
That price is to no longer be a part of the silent majority, but to be an outspoken patriot who speaks up for the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Be discerning. Be alert.
Remember that the meaning of words matter.
Do not allow yourself to be used, and for heaven’s sake, do everything you can to help build a stronger, more just America!
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