The link is here.
OS hopes you take a moment to read it again.
Notice the clear use of language, and contrast it with our current culture's love of spin, of nuance, of deniability. Jefferson wrote eloquently, with the intent of conveying ideas with power and clarity. No spin here, friends and neighbors.
Also, observe the dual appeal to both Providence and Reason. Not either/or, but both. The French Revolution spurned Providence, and soon lost any sense of Reason. It disintegrated into a bloodbath, and ushered in Bonaparte, who bathed the world in suffering. Sans both Providence and Reason, any enterprise is doomed from the beginning.
Finally, these men had skin in the game. They knew signing that document was an act of treason against the Crown, and they knew that potentially meant the loss of all things--wealth, freedom, family, life itself. They signed anyway, big, clear signatures, to let the world clearly know who they were and what they were about.
OS's prayer on this July 4 is that we reclaim that clarity, that faith in both Providence and Reason, and the courage to live our lives with that sort of skin in the game.
July 4 is an anniversary of sorts for OS. The entire tale cannot be told, but on July 4, 1988, OS heard those words recited at a neighborhood celebration, and summoned the courage to make some large decisions about life. Sitting here now, surveying the scene, he could not possibly have imagined what awaited him. It was a long war to get here, and OS is pretty scarred-up from some of the battles he had to fight.
But he wouldn't trade it for the world.
Thanks, Mr. Jefferson. God bless the United States of America.
No comments:
Post a Comment