Celebrating Freedom

Independence Day 2012.  A day to celebrate freedom.  I hope there are others out there who feel like I do--the awe when I think about those who committed treason in order to live free.  I don't know that I would have been on board with that.  Would I have been brave enough?  Passionate enough?  I'm so glad that people long ago stood on their convictions and resisted tyranny.

In honor of our nation's birth, I thought I'd share my images of bombs bursting in air.

On the way to the fireworks show

O say, can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were to gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air

Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;

And this be our motto:  "In God is our trust!"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall save

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets.  To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.

Herbert Hoover, in a speech dated April 27, 1950

Freedom is the natural condition of the human race, in which the Almighty intended men to live.  Those who fight the purpose of the Almighty will not succeed.  They always have been, they always will be, beaten.

Abraham Lincoln, February 23, 1861

The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man, will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.

George Washington, July 9, 1776

We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generation...

Constitution of the State of Illinois, 1870

The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields.

Noah Webster, 1790

 

Posterity--you will never know how much

it has cost my generation

to preserve your freedom.

I hope you will make good use of it.

John Quincy Adams

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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