In a 2002 address, the former chair of the Natuonal Endowment of the Humanities delivered a speech in which he said:
"A nation that does not know why it exists or what it stands for cannot be expected to long endure . . . We must recover from the amnesia that shrouds our history in darkness, our principles in confusion, and our future in uncertainty. We cannot expect that a nation which has lost its memory will keep its vision."
Independence Day is about holding on to memory. It is a time set aside to observe the meaning of our nation and to protect us from the amnesia which would have us to forget why it is that we exist.
There is often now a debate about whether or not America is "exceptional". I say yes, America is exceptional insofar as God has given it to us to for this time to hold the light of freedom up for all the nations to see. Of course, we have not always held it up as high as we might, and therefore the light of freedom has not always reached as far as we said on paper it would; but when we have chosen to hold it as high as we might, the light has reached far and wide. That is truly exceptional.
This weekend is our chance once again to be reminded of our enduring call to lift the light. And I suggest it is for each of us as individuals and as families to go back this weekend to the paper -- the Declaration of Independence -- and remind ourselves once more of what it is that we stand for. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" -- this is what must be perpetually observed and remembered lest the light be lost.
In his famous 1852 Independence Day speech, Frederick Douglass said this of those famous words on paper:
"I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ringbolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost."
Independence Day is a day set aside to remember again what we stand for, why we exist, and what is our exceptional calling in this world.
May we seek to live up to this calling, and may the torch of liberty we hold always burn bright and burn bold.
Thank you for your post. I am surprised that you chose to reference something by the NEA, a secular organization, and even more surprised to see the quote by Frederick Douglas. I vaguely recalled him, but certainly not clearly. Douglas, I came to see, was called "Lincoln's Thorn" as he was a slave made free and transformed into a slave of freedom, or a bond servant thereof. Here are his words, about his early steps, taken from his biography:
ReplyDeleteI was not more than thirteen years old, when in my loneliness and destitution I longed for some one to whom I could go, as to a father and protector. The preaching of a white Methodist minister, named Hanson, was the means of causing me to feel that in God I had such a friend. He thought that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God: that they were by nature rebels against His government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ. I cannot say that I had a very distinct notion of what was required of me, but one thing I did know well: I was wretched and had no means of making myself otherwise.
I consulted a good old colored man named Charles Lawson, and in tones of holy affection he told me to pray, and to "cast all my care upon God." This I sought to do; and though for weeks I was a poor, broken-hearted mourner, traveling through doubts and fears, I finally found my burden lightened, and my heart relieved. I loved all mankind, slaveholders not excepted, though I abhorred slavery more than ever. I saw the world in a new light, and my great concern was to have everybody converted. My desire to learn increased, and especially, did I want a thorough acquaintance with the contents of the Bible