As we approach the nation’s birthday, we look to our flag waving in the wind, the red and white stripes and the stars in a field of blue, representing our 50 states, and we feel pride and joy. No matter our differences, today we are united, one large family under the dome of heaven! As I was writing this, my husband Glenn reminded me that the stripes in the flag represent the 13 original states. This led to a conversation in which we shared our amazement that the words written in 1787 in Philadelphia still provide the foundation of our laws today.
While our forefathers anticipated growth, they could not have begun to imagine the enormous magnitude, speed and energy which in 200 years would cause our nation to become a super power in the world. We went from 13 states along the east coast to dominating the continent, expanding through the mid-west, to the west coast and the Pacific ocean and in recent years, embracing Alaska and Hawaii.
We built railroads, bridges, flooded the country with cars and highways, airplanes, radios, telephones, television, the internet and developed a spacecraft that could land on the moon!
At the time the Constitution was written, it was an overnight trip with horse and carriage from Philadelphia to New York and communication was conducted in letters delivered by a rider on horseback.
The founding fathers in their wisdom wrote into the original work a legal procedure for submitting amendments which permitted change to take place in an orderly way. This allowed us to abolish slavery and for women to obtain the right to vote.
Today we celebrate the ideal that we are all equal in the sight of God and in the laws of the land. We revisit our heritage and our promise of “a more perfect union.” We remind ourselves that freedom, justice and prosperity are not guaranteed. Evil continues to undermine civilization in the form of random violence, mass murder and cruel mindless attacks designed to disrupt the lives of those who wish to live in peace.
Quite remarkably, over the years we have had leaders who rose above their human frailties and inspired our nation to accomplish greatness. Wise leadership encourages the best in us and unifies us in purpose and resolve.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg. “That this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people shall not perish from the earth!”
During World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s voice rang out, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself!”
When it came to fighting for integration, Martin Luther King Jr. assured us, “The arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address in 1961, “Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” He encouraged us to dream and proposed “landing a man on the moon!”
President Ronald Reagan in a speech in West Berlin June 12, 1987: “If you seek peace and prosperity for the Soviet Union, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
George W. Bush September 11, 2001, in response to the attack on the Twin Towers in New York: “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat but have failed.” “America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.”
Further thoughts by Abraham Lincoln are eerily relevant today. “We meet in an hour of change and challenge in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.”
Along with the picnics and fireworks we may take time to reflect. If we want wise leadership we need to learn more about the process of governing. The task of governing takes experience and knowledge, confidence and humility, integrity, patience, tenacity and courage. It is about pursuing truth, facts, gathering information and confronting problems with reason as well as passion. It is helpful to have studied law, history and science.
It is time now to light the 241 candles on our birthday cake! (My husband says, “With all the hot air in Washington, it will be easy to blow them out!”)