The Cost of Freedom

    Today is not the 4th of July. Today is Indepence Day. 235 years ago today marks the greatest triumph in American history that should be treasured by all it's citizens. Due to exorbitant taxation and perpetual tyranny, we fought back as young men no older than myself sacrificed their lives for the lives of the people that would live after them. That is such a heavy thought for me to process. They were teenagers enjoying their childhood, but they became soldiers, not only out of pure necessity but because they believed in the cause. Everything we possess today, everything, we owe to our brave Freedom Fighters. Their courage is a perfect example of human will and limitless ability to fight on.
    
     America has always been the World's enemy because our pluralistic ideals infuriate Eastern lands. But above all, it's that we will never, even to the last breath, change that belief that pisses them off so much that they try to blow our buildings up and terrorize us but they consistently fail to understand that we are an inpenetrable fortress. Now that's freedom. We have the ability to complain about the NBA and NFL lockouts because our military destroys our enemy that wants nothing more than 300 million Americans dead.

     And then there's Thomas Paine. Paine was British born and like many others, came to the New World to escape religious persecution. When the Revelution began though, Paine never touched a weapon. His arsenal included a quill and papyrus. A man that believed that the pen was mightier than the sword was able to ignite a burning flame within a nation with his words. Common Sense exposed every aspect of tyrant King George's narcissistic, brutal ways. To me, this is truly amazing because one man, without threatening with force, moved an entire NEW nation with evolving ideas to freedom. I so wish I could have met that man.

     So, today as you're enjoying time with your family and friends, please remember the endless courage that those who walked our land before us had. Remember this as well:      “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” -Benjamin Franklin.

               Thomas Paine