we hold these truths ....

without doubt some of the greatest writings ever are those which American citizens have come to know as love as part of our National Heritage .... The Mayflower Compact, the declaration of Independence, out Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's second inaugural Address, JFK's inaugural Address, FDR's Declaration of War against Japan, Martin Luther King Junior's Mountaintop and I have a Dream speeches, Ronald Reagan's Tear Down this Wall .... those of us who love and study history have been priviledged to read and in some cases experience for ourselves the stirring calls to action, the pleas for restraint, hope for our future, and remembrances of our roots ....

this week i was priviledged again to hear what i believe future historians will call one of the greatest ever given .. the vision of freedom and liberty encompassed in President Bush's second inaugural Address .... the call to action on the part of every man woman and child who lives in freedom to help others achieve that goal for themselves .... because as Mister Lincoln noted so long ago ... and Mister Jefferson before him ... freedom and liberty as a right are granted not by other men but by Man's Creator .... the life liberty AND the pursuit of happiness are among those things that all possess that no one can ever take away ...

and after hearing that speech i was shocked to hear so many of the liberal and democratic party complain that they did not understand it ... which made me wonder if they do not understand life ... liberty ... pursuit of happiness and the establishment of that right for ALL NATIONS and ALL PEOPLES how can they understand anything?

Is life and liberty such a difficult concept? IS the dream of freedom for EVERY HUMAN so complex as to only be understood by those of the Genius caliber?

Being a Simple concept does not mean the concept is stupid or will not work ... after all ... the dream of manned flight was a simple concept .... a more complex solution to achieve but as a concept it was a brilliant yet simple idea .... one that has transformed our universe.

The wisest man who ever walked this earth had a simple solution for the problems he encountered in his daily journey .... in one of his most famous talks he stated it thusly:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

and further on he gives this conclusion to life ....

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Centuries later the greatest being who walked the face of the earth told his followers simply... "you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." He also gave them a simple rule to to follow for happiness ... "You shall love The Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might and your neighbor as yourself."

Since that time .... the world over every religious leader, every philosopher, every wise man has echoed those words ... the universality of what is known as the Golden Rule is unmistakable ....

Christianity
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:1

Confucianism
Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2

Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism
This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah

Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

The Golden Rule ... simple, yet indestructible ... concise and invincible ....

Upon such simple things as this rest the entire foundation of humanity and life itself. So also is the vision of freedom and liberty and justice for ALL a simple concept ... simple, yet unmistakably grand and glorious ... and worth much more than gold ... silver ... diamonds ... and all the material wealth one could ever gain.

Only of liberty and freedom is it said:

Patrick Henry - "Give me LIBERTY or give me death"

Albert Einstein - "Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in FREEDOM."

Aristotle -"The basis of a democratic state is LIBERTY."

Carl Schurz - "If you want to be free, there is but one way, it is to guarantee an equally full measure of LIBERTY to all your neighbors. There is no other."

Lord Acton - "LIBERTY is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."

William Hazlitt - "The love of LIBERTY is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves."

Richard Baxter - "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, LIBERTY; in all things, charity."

John Milton - "Give me the LIBERTY to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all LIBERTIES."

Jean Jacques Rousseau - "To renounce LIBERTY is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties .. to remove all LIBERTY from his will is to remove all morality from his acts."

Cicero - "LIBERTY is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude."

Woodrow Wilson - "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political LIBERTY."

George W. Bush - "Americans are a free people, who know that FREEDOM is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The LIBERTY we prize is not America's give to the world; it is God's gift to humanity."

John Stuart Mill - "Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit."

John Adams - "LIBERTY, once lost, is lost forever."

Nothing on earth is more valuable, more needed, more desired, and more important than LIBERTY and FREEDOM.

We, as the freedom loving, freedom aspiring, freedom granted people of America "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"

not just for the select few but for ALL the WORLD .... now and forever.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and as expanded upon by former Oklahoma Representative J. C. Watts Jr; we all as Americans should have a dream that everyone rich or poor, American or citizen of other countries should be afforded the freedom and liberty to be accepted or not accepted; judged rightly, due not to skin color, national origin, ideology of our convictions, but rather and only on the CONTENT of our INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER.

and since we are talking about LIBERTY here is a special thank you to the men and women of our armed services who daily preserve, protect, and defend our liberty and freedom ... sometimes at the very price of theirs ... and their lives.

Today's Roll of Honor:

US Air Force - 100th Communications Squadron, RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom

US Army - Detatchment C, 38th Personnel Services Battalion, Bamberg, Germany

US Navy - USS The Sullivans, DDG 68, Mayport, Florida

US Marine Corps - Marine Wing Support Group 17, Okinawa, Japan

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Bollard, New Haven , Connecticut