The very next paragraph of the document is, in my mind, the most powerful and sacrosanct of all words written about human beings and their right to be free.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are createdIf we think about it, these words have never been more meaningful or essential than they are today. Ever since they were written, they have inspired people the world over to be free. They are quoted by freedom fighters; they are seen as the inspiration for an arduous journey to come to the USA to live, and they highlight a need for human rights everywhere. They are even the real reason why terrorists everywhere hate us, because to embrace the essence of these words destroys any hope for success for the tyrants and thugs who prey on the weak and oppressed.
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I remember one of my favorite Star Trek episodes from the original series involved the words from the preamble. On a planet many light years away, Kirk and his crew are caught in a vicious civil war. As the "rebels" slowly take over the capital and capture Kirk and crew, it becomes clear that they are fighting for much the same thing as the American colonists did so long ago. Somehow a copy of the Declaration of Independence has made it across time and space (as well as a tattered American flag), and as the rebel leader begins to read the words written by Jefferson, Kirk recites them because he knows them by heart. While it is of course fictional, I think this episode makes clear the far-reaching and eternal power of Jefferson’s words and their meaning for all people who long for dignity, equity, and freedom.
Article comments
1 - Kold
I was out riding on July 4th 2006, trying to find-out why they didn’t have Go Fourth, and found a dead, baby doll with one arm on Mayberry Street, the other one was broken-off. I guess you could make TEN-thousand-one statements of what that symbolizes. I hung it up on a hook, which is how I wanna be martyred (hung, shot, guillotined, or pulled by four-horses when a shotgun is fired. Guess you‘d call that ‘Quarter-Horsing-Around’). Nevertheless, my interpretation is this: America, in it’s infancy, has no bloody idea of how much we owe God Almighty for our well-being in this Land-of-the-Free; That also makes me realize, by her lying broken in the street, how callous we are toward the unborn. Don’t know? Don’t care? “SoBeIt,” saith the Trinity. “Let the Angel of Death descend, Bill and Fred.”
2 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is being featured in the Culture Focus today, July 5.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
3 - Victor Lana
Thanks for letting me know, Diana!
4 - Michael J. West
This, Victor, is what an article about the Fourth of July should look like. It's wonderful and I appreciated every word of it.