FREEDOM AND LIBERTY WORTH THE COST

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Declaration of Independence

With these words Thomas Jefferson embodied the heart of freedom and liberty. As the signers of the Declaration of Independence placed their very life behind the principles of freedom to gain independence on that summers day in 1776 they gave birth to a new idea.

An idea that had never before found its equal or better in a government by man. An idea that encompassed the most basic of human rights but had never before been allowed to flourish in any country.

An idea which allowed all people regardless of where they came from, who their parents were, what their financial status was or how they worshipped the unalienable right to think do and live as they pleased. To prosper in accordance with their will and willingness to achieve. To worship in accordance to their personal beliefs. To raise their family on their own land without being subservient to another.

To live without the fear of oppression or threat of a tyrant, monarch or government that imposed their will upon the individual. To some all of these freedoms were not evident from the beginning but the ground work was laid to make those freedoms possible for any and everyone.

To this cause and the birth of this new nation in which these freedoms could find root in the heart and life of every person who set foot upon her shores, the signers of The Declaration dedicated their, "support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. "

It would be another six years before full independence was gained and yet another seven before the government which embodied theses principles of freedom was established. In those long hard fought years many would sacrifice their, lives , fortunes and sacred honor, to gain the freedom that was promised in The Declaration.

Most who made this sacrifice never signed the document of birth. Most who sacrificed never made the pledge of the signers publicly but all who sacrificed realized that with freedom comes a price and each were willing to pay that price regardless of the cost for in their hearts they knew that their sacrifice would not be in vain. For with that sacrifice would come a new nation forged in blood and dedicated to the premise that all people should and can be free.

Those who made this sacrifice were not making an idle stand nor one that just followed the crowd but willingly stood for what they believed and sought within their very heart, the chance to be free. The chance to wake every morning to know that they held within their own hands the ability to lead the life of their choosing. This is why they fought. This is why many died and this is why throughout our history we have continued to fight and sacrifice to pay the price of freedom.

As we celebrate this 231st birthday of our freedom as a nation let us not forget the sacrifice that has been made through all of those years to continually insure that each generation of Americans can enjoy the same freedoms as the generations who have gone before. Let us not forget the reason that we as a nation exist, "that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, " may always be our national creed and our national calling.

That we never take for granted those freedoms and realize that each freedom that we possess as individuals and as a nation has come with great sacrifice from the very inception of our nation and that sacrifice still continues today to insure that those freedoms and this nation continue to live. We have a heritage of freedom and it is a heritage that we owe to continue at any cost to insure that future generations of Americans can celebrate and live in the same freedom.

God bless America and may he continue to bless our freedom and each of us who live in this land of the free.

Ken Taylor