Land Of Voices

As I’m writing this, fireworks are going off behind me.  I can’t help but think of another American, who was probably like me, a Husband and a Father.  Yet, the noises behind him weren’t fireworks, they were cannon fire.  Tonight I’ll go to bed, thankful for that other American, who left his farm, to carry a musket.

I don’t know if he returned home after the war, or if he lost his life at Yorktown.  All I know is, because of him, and countless patriots like that minuteman, I am a free man today.  In the Revolutionary War, there were both scholars, and illiterate men, poor farmers, as well as men who had everything to lose.  However, all of them together, risked everything, for the dream of a free nation.

A country ruled, not by the mood of a king, but a republic of voices. Yes voices, they believed that America was to be a land of voices.  Where all men, regardless of background, would be able to freely speak from their hearts. Sometimes it’s messy, sometimes it’s hard, but always, it’s worth it.

That’s the secret, that’s what drove men to hug their wives, and kiss their babies possibly goodbye.  Because they knew that, even if their own voices were silenced, their families would have a voice. Today we live in an America full of voices.  

Sometimes those voices argue, often they disagree, but thank God, and our founding fathers, that we have the freedom to lift our voice. We are blessed to be able to disagree, to argue, and to peacefully co-exist.  I don’t know how this year will turn out, but I do know this.  

I know that I will always be grateful, that the grandson of a coal miner, can say those precious words. I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. Happy Fourth Of July to all Americans. May your voices ring with freedom, all across the land, as loudly, as the fireworks are bright.