Our country’s birth certificate was signed by 56 brave men in Philadelphia in 1776. They chose to make an explicit declaration that could have easily been at that time equivalent to signing their death warrant – the Declaration of Independence.
We are impacted by those who came before us and the choices that they made and the consequences that resulted. Declarations are particularly powerful choices that can be publicly communicated to announce a substantive proclamation.
Making choices is fundamental to exercising personal freedom and choices result in consequences… good choices with good consequences and bad choices with bad consequences.
So why did our country’s founding fathers take such a risk? Included in their Declaration of Independence are the words that “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.”
This Thanksgiving holiday, I am reminded that our liberty has come at a very substantial cost. I am thankful for our founders’ bravery and wisdom and the price they paid to form a free nation comprised of self-governing states. I am grateful for the countless thousands who have served in our military over the past 240 years to fight for and maintain our liberty. I think of those deployed today around the world keeping watch so we can keep our liberty.
I invite us this Thanksgiving season to reflect on the truth that while Liberty is Freedom, it has not come freely nor is it maintained freely. And perhaps this reflection will help remind us to responsibly exercise our freedom and the choices we make in a manner that is honoring of those who have paid and are paying such a great price for the freedom we experience… Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Have a great Thanksgiving!