Remembering Our Freedom

Valerie J. Steimle

With our Independence Day landing on Sunday this year, there is some time to ponder the freedoms we have been allowed since the formation of our country. As it’s been a difficult year with all the political turmoil, we especially need a positive reminder of where it all came from and how it all started. We must never forget how our freedoms have been guarded all these years and who is responsible. Those courageous men and women should be given the credit of what freedoms we have today of which we should be eternally grateful. Here is a writing I was sent last week to share with others about our freedoms: (The author is unknown)

I watched the flag pass by one day, it fluttered in the breeze
A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform, so young, so tall, so proud, with hair cut square and eyes alert he'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil? How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night, when everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times that Taps had meant 'Amen,'
When a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, of the mothers and the wives, of fathers, sons and
husbands with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea, of unmarked graves in Arlington,
No, freedom isn't free.

A story I was told since a child was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary entry: “Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, a women by the name of Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin a question. “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Benjamin Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

If we can keep it!!!! Very profound and insightful. We all need to work towards keeping our country a republic. From every walk of life up to the White House, we should be guarding our freedoms to the very end. We are the greatest country in the world and all eyes are watching our nation to keep the free world free. So whether it’s voting for the right person representing our Constitution or writing a letter to Congress in standing up for our beliefs, we need to keep our freedoms and appreciate all those who helped us along the way.