“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it …” – Declaration of Independence
Those are fighting words. They led the Continental Army to believe that they could engage and defeat the world-renowned British Army in 1776. They are the words that inspired President Abraham Lincoln to stand in the sorrow of Gettysburg and proclaim, “… that the government of the people for the people by the people shall not perish from the earth.” He didn’t speak of a government of kings or dictators. He spoke of a free people who would change the world with the freedom they possessed.
We as humans have short memories. We forget our suffering when it is turned to joy. We forget the storm when the clouds are gone. In times of plenty, it is hard to remember what it was like in times of scarcity. After a mother gives birth, she forgets the pain of labor in the joy of her new baby. After an accident, the teenager forgets that speeding was the cause of their problems, and goes back to speeding. The alcoholic forgets the hangover, and the released prisoner forgets what it was like behind bars and goes back to a life of crime. That is why the Lord commands us to remember.
“But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” (Deuteronomy 24:18, KJV)
When in the wilderness, the children of Israel forgot what it was like to be slaves in Egypt. They didn’t remember making bricks without straw. They didn’t remember the aching backs, the chains and the whips. They only remembered the food being brought to them and having a place to sleep at night. Often, they complained and wanted to return to the fleshpots of Egypt.
In our day, we forget the price that was paid for our freedoms. Many think the fleshpots of socialism, fascism and communism would be a better way because they have forgotten or have never been taught the horrors of those who lived under those regimes. We have not suffered the pain of writing and preserving the Constitution the founders fought and died for. Many long for a government that would shame even King George of colonial times. King George, at least, had a Parliament where some decisions were made by the people.
The philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
As our history unfolds and I listen to those who think more government is the answer, I can’t help but wonder if we are longing for the fleshpots of Egypt. Government was meant to be a protector, not a provider.
In our luxurious comfort, we have forgotten that Babylon whose tower was to reach heaven and was brought down by God’s decree. We can’t comprehend an Egypt that beat and tortured the slaves so they could have the pyramids and grand cities. We have forgotten the glory of the Greeks who, for a brief moment in time, knew freedom but lost it to Rome because their morality fell into decay. Have we forgotten Rome, where people were crucified for their beliefs? We don’t think of the Dark Ages, where a king’s tyranny beheaded his wives because they could not bear sons. We don’t remember the power of kings burning people at the stake for disagreeing on the shape of the world or translating the Bible.
The Pilgrims fled a brutal society of a tyrannical government to face the harsh physical conditions of a new land because they wanted the rights and privileges we take for granted. The journey was arduous and long. They left their loved ones lying in watery graves or buried them in icy graves on the shores of the New World. The price they paid was unimaginable. After a winter of terrible hardship, the captain of the Mayflower asked who of the few survivors wanted to return with him to England. It is interesting to note that nobody wanted to return. They would rather freeze and suffer starvation in a land where freedom was a possibility than in a land where freedom was only a dream.
We have closed our minds to the desolation of Valley Forge and the price the young men paid lying in the snow, shivering with only the fire of freedom burning in their hearts. They wanted freedom from a government that held them hostage with high taxes and laws they could not amend because they had no representation in the government. We have forgotten the red blood of American soldiers and patriots that is mixed with the ink that penned the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Let the questions of Francis Scott Key ring in our ears. “Does the star-spangled banner still wave” over a land that is free and the home where brave men still live? Do we still stand between our “loved home and war’s desolation?” Do the fireworks on the Fourth of July remind us of the bombs that burst in the air around a tattered and charred flag?
Do we remember Lincoln standing like a colossus holding the North and the South together amid the cries of wounded and the mourning widows and fatherless adrift in a torn nation? Do we remember his immortal words in the Emancipation Proclamation: All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
All Americans, black and white, were to be free under the banner of the Constitution. Free people who would change the world with the freedom they possessed. But the world forgot.
Wars came. World War I and World War II. American soldiers who stood between the philosophy of tyranny and slaughter and the dignity of a free people. Have we forgotten the gas chambers and the prisons filled with innocent people? Have we not read the Diary of Anne Frank? Have we forgotten the death marches and the shattered lives and beautiful cities that were turned to rubble? For what? The whim of a would-be dictator.
Think of the twin towers and a plane of patriots who gave their lives so that freedom might continue to exist? Are we suffering from complacent amnesia? Are we so sleepy and content with our daily rituals of cellphone, internet and money making that we have forgotten freedom is not free? The price needs to be paid in remembering.
We must remember the hill of Calvary where God gave his life for the freedom and dignity of all mankind. He was the greatest advocate for freedom of all time. He died so that men and women might walk in newness of life. He taught a new philosophy of freedom that would change the human heart. He taught to love your neighbor. To do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If a man takes your coat, give him your cloak also. Love your enemies. Do good to those who despitefully use and persecute you. Love one another as He has loved you. The truth shall make you free.
If we embraced those teachings, war would be only a horrible memory of the past. And Isaiah’s prophecy would be fulfilled: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4, KJV)
