DO AMERICANS KNOW HOW TO BE FREE?
DO AMERICANS KNOW HOW TO BE FREE?
Nancy B. Detweiler
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. With these lofty ideals in mind, a small group of North American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.
And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Mindful of Divine Providence and for the purpose of building an independent nation, the colonists pledged to work together, to share their fortunes, and to honor each other. Together, they would learn what it means to be free, sovereign beings while living within a national community.
July 4, 2009 marks the 233rd year Americans have celebrated our independence. Have we learned how to be free while living within a national community? We call our nation’s founding documents inspired, but are we inspired by them? Do we recognize, in the words of Mortimer J. Adler, that citizenship is the only permanent political office? Are we fulfilling our office of citizenship in ways that honor the unalienable rights bestowed on all human beings by our Creator?
We cannot know how to be free without understanding and implementing every human being’s unalienable (natural) rights. Rights bestowed by our Creator are for the purpose of taking every human being to the highest possible level of individual expression.
Have Americans learned how to rise above the categories—Democratic, Republican, conservative, liberal, Christian, Muslim, Jew, ad infinitum—that separate us and hamper our working together to achieve the unalienable rights for all human beings? Have we learned to use our intellect and intuition to seek Truth for ourselves, rather than simply accepting the orthodox answers of the so-called authorities? Have Americans comprehended how to live together in love and mutual respect, while assisting all human beings to manifest their true potential in accordance with our Creator’s gifts of unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Do Americans know that life is using our talents for the good of all? Do we know that liberty provides the milieu for all to live in accordance with their life purpose? Do we know that the pursuit of happiness means having the abundance, education, and loving acceptance to pursue the happiness found in positive self-expression and well-being? Do we know that freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is possible only when all are free to do the same?
If not, Americans are still learning how to be free.
