Speaking With . . .™

I acknowledge that most people around the world favor the country they live in so I won’t say which nation is the “best” since beauty does lie in the eye and heart of the beholder. I think there are many beautiful nations in this world and, like many people, I’m glad I live in the one that is home to me. My home is America.

We have a beautiful pledge that was composed originally by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and later modified to read as we now recite it: 

• I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The ideals conveyed in this promise are outstanding. Loyalty being promised to a nation of people who live under the authority and in the protection of God.  A nation that cannot be divided as it assures freedom and justice for all of its citizens. The ideals are clear and they are good. What’s even better is the resolution with which so many Americans have strived to live up to the ideals. A nation where many come together to help in business, worship, social challenges and more regardless of race or nationality. A nation where many who truly value freedom and justice for all work diligently to improve educational opportunities so that as many as will can be free to pursue a good quality of life for themselves and their families as they also try to help others who may be less fortunate while others also participate in organizations dedicated to battling the constant efforts to deprive registered, eligible citizens of their right to vote.

Herein is the problem: the battle for justice and freedom continues. The struggle for quality education for all goes on. As it was in the beginning, so it is now. Before and since that beautiful promise was composed, our nation remains divided between those who truly want good for all of the nation and those who, for various reasons, greed, hatred…fight to continue to thwart or, at least, minimize the impact of the efforts to help the nation achieve its best.

Most of our nation still applaud our president’s efforts to turn our country in a positive direction and help our global community in the process; but many hope for his failure. Many are moving towards greater racial harmony but others are moving just as hard in the other direction.

Hats off to the many people who continue to work with President Obama in the push to move our nation towards greater harmony and unity, greater achievement as we become stronger in our unity. Let’s continue in this direction as we also continue to pray and give others who have moved so enthusiastically away from us the chance to begin to move with us. There’s still time for more change, more progress. More opportunity for more of our fellow-citizens to join us in the push to live up to the promise we make to each other year after year as we pledge our allegiance…

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 5:47 PM and is filed under This Week's Guests and Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.