The source of our freedoms – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
This week I attended my daughter’s middle school band concert – a concert done in conjunction with a speech competition every year, where students speak to an aspect of Veteran’s Day. This year, the winner closed his speech with this quote from one of his mentors, Glenn Boyer:
It is the veteran, not the preacher who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the veteran, not the reporter who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It doesn’t seem like enough to say, “Thank you.” To pay honor to veterans, one must do as they did, and pay it forward. Ensure the endurance of our freedoms for future generations through their exercise and preservation at the polls. And take full advantage of the inalienable rights that our founding fathers believed were endowed on us, as human beings, by our Creator, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Bold words! That we have an innate entitlement to not only liberty (the ability to act as one feels led) but the pursuit of happiness. The men and women who founded our country were not businessmen, they were dreamers and visionaries. And the men and women who have fought for these principles made those dreams come true – now for more than 200 years – and have fought to extend those freedoms to peoples in other countries as well.
With special acknowledgement, thanks, love and affection to my dad, Jim Robinson (US Navy, Vietnam Conflict, 66-69), my grandpa, Caryl “Pete” Peterson (US Navy, World War II, European Theatre), and my great grandfather, Theodore “Ted” Peterson (US Army, World War I) – and last but certainly not least – to Gavon Groendyke, current member of the US National Guard, having already spent 1 year+ in Iraq! – the father of my grandson, Jaxon and granddaughter on the way, Jaycee!
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