I Didn’t Go to the Fireworks

I was at a concert with fireworks last night, and it was an event that was rejuvenating, even inspiring. The host talked about the importance of freedom, and how we all know that freedom is worth fighting for, worth being arrested for, worth struggling for. Our orchestra performed Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” – a beautiful work that includes a narration:

“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.”

That is what he said. That is what Abraham Lincoln said.

“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.”

He was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois. And this is what he said. This is what Abe Lincoln said.

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country.”

When standing erect he was six feet four inches tall, and this is what he said.

He said: “It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says ‘you toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.’ No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”

Lincoln was a quiet man. Abe Lincoln was a quiet and a melancholy man. But when he spoke of democracy, this is what he said.

He said: “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of these United States, is everlasting in the memory of his countrymen. For on the battleground at Gettysburg, this is what he said:

He said: “That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

There will always be a battle between right and wrong.

We must rise up to the occasion – to fight what is wrong within our government, within our country, within our national soul.

We must disenthrall ourselves from the notion that we cannot heal our country and get it back on the path of preserving freedom and justice for all. History teaches us that, even in the darkest of times, liberty and justice will prevail.

“We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country.”

I like it. It truly reflects how many of our fellow citizens feel. They just keep their eyes closed and pretend that things aren’t as bad as they truly are.

I was at a theme park the other day, and they had the yellow “We Support the Troops” stickers on all of the cars of one of the more visible rides (it’s a ride that transports you across the park, very slowly). Mr. LOTF and I mused about why they would put these stickers on the ride… as if a blatant statement of “we support the troops” makes the amusement park more fun, or more patriotic, or whatever. It’s not as if there is a “we don’t support the troops” movement in America (unless, like me, you consider someone like McCain as questionable in his support of our military officers, as he votes against the new GI bill… but I digress).

We talked about how the amusement park probably can’t remove the stickers from the car, because if they do, there will probably be a firestorm from the rabid fringe righties who would try to turn this action into “being unpatriotic”.

It made us think about when it would be socially acceptable to remove the “Support the Troops” stickers. Seems to me that those companies who used such public displays of so-called patriotism have gotten themselves into a bit of a predicament.