From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

The 4th of July is one of those holidays that means different things to different Americans--- Freedom, Fun, Frivolity and Fireworks--- all those things that make America... America. Two years ago, when I penned my  Optimistic Cynic's Guide To Patriotism  post, I was in a different mind-set about the essence of our country's existence. We are a young country--- only 237 yrs old--- an infant when you compare the ages of countries in the rest of the world. We're the "baby of the family" so to speak.... and we carry the dreaded, though not unexpected, stereotype of being the youngest sibling, with us.... But, being the spoiled, youngest sprog also means we have a greater responsibility for carrying on the family name---- lest we bring an end to our line because we have failed to ensure our posterity. We have the "time" to grow into a successful adult...we have the shadows of our older siblings to emulate, avoid, outshine--- if we follow, or in so...

With Independence Day looming, I was suddenly struck by the fact that I had never really contemplated what it meant to be patriotic and what it meant to have freedom. It's difficult to put our liberties, which so many of us take as inherent and automatically assured, into perspective when we've never had to face a life without them. As it is so easy to assume that we are protected from life's indignities because of our freedom, I am compelled to wonder what would happen if our protection was suddenly taken from us. Though, I don't mean in the same fashion as 9/11 (which was a horrific tragedy that I hope never repeats), no, I mean in a complete form-- that EVERY freedom we have was suddenly stripped from us, that EVERY liberty (which we assume is our birth-right because someone died to secure it before we were even born) was suddenly erased. So many times I cringe when I read the latest headlines-- coercion, political tyranny, corruption, not to mention the blatan...