What's Happening to Freedom?

It’s hard to talk about freedoms when there are so many in the world who don’t have them. It’s hard, too, when there are people in our own country who want to take away some of the freedoms we do have. Well, maybe not so much take them away. It’s more that they want to decide and dictate exactly what our "freedom" should be.....or simply sit back and do nothing to defend our right to personal freedom.

This isn’t the direction I meant to go in this blog but things I recently read on facebook and heard in the news have pointed me down this road.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed the Four Freedoms in his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941.... 11 months before the United States declared war on Japan. These four freedoms, necessary to all of mankind, were illustrated by Norman Rockwell on the covers of the Saturday Evening Post in 1943, during the height of World War II.


Freedom of Worship

Freedom of Speech

  






　

　



Freedom from Want

Freedom from Fear

　

　

　

　

　

　

　








Our goal as American citizens in a democratic society is to work at ensuring all people come to realize these freedoms.

I wonder why we’re so afraid of offending someone else when they seem to have no qualms about their doing the offending? Why, I wonder, do some atheists work so hard at removing God from everything when they don’t believe in Him in the first place? Why are some so against others worshiping and praying when they’re free to make their own choices? Why are there those who feel they have to force their beliefs onto others?

Our country was founded by those seeking religious freedom...freedom to worship as they chose without fear of persecution. We are a melting pot of many nationalities, many cultures and many religions and though there have always been differences, there was once respect.

I wonder what happened to respect? Maybe it died along with common sense? Why do we need laws to tell us how we should relate to one another? What happened to "love your neighbor" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? What happened to people standing up for what they believe and trusting those we elect as leaders to have courage enough to do the right thing?

This morning I found myself wondering.....if I were still teaching school, I wonder what would happen if I had my class salute the flag? What would happen if I set aside a few minutes each day for quiet meditation? What would happen if I said the word, "God"? I wonder if I’d lose my job...or end up in jail...for "offending" someone? I wonder who and how many would support my actions....and how many wouldn’t?

We need to stand up and make ourselves heard so the deaths of the Holocaust and the Christians murdered by ISIS will not have been in vain.

A Reflection

The mountain
   and the valley
    loom
before me...

the mountain,
   bathed in light,
the valley
   covered
     in darkness. 

I want to climb
    the mountain,
but cannot scale
   its sheer
      rock cliffs.

I turn my eyes
   to the valley below.
      I shudder.

"Go to the valley,"
   I hear God say
     "Carry
         My light."

and so,
   In faith,
     and trepidation,
        I go.

When I am spent
   and they see
     His light,

I raise my eyes
   to the mountain top,

knowing God,
   through His grace,
     will lift me up.

                 ....Connie  04/03/15

God, in His great mercy and grace, will always lift us up.

Happy Easter

 









 My Cross

This cross of mine
   was given me
on my day of birth
   for me to carry
through the days
   I live upon this earth

As I have grown
   through the years,
as I have gotten older,
   I’ve come to love
this cross which rests
   upon my shoulders.

Some days it seems
   its weight
I cannot bear.
   But, then the times
it lifts me up
  I’m so glad it’s there.                         

This cross of mine
   does lift me
ever higher,
   closer to my God
where I can hear
   the angels singing
in His heavenly choir.

I love my cross.
   I’ll not let go
     for I know

When I’m too old
   and feeble;
too weak
   to lift its weight
Tis then my cross
   will carry me
to the One I seek.

       
This poem is an original and I wanted to share it with you. There would be no Easter without the cross.  May you have a blessed and glorious Easter. God bless you!!

Love, Connie