It’s the Fourth of July. I’m six and very excited. Standing on the sidewalk, I watch proud men pass, following the colors of a proud nation, wearing the uniforms of a proud land, and within me a feeling surfaces that I can’t define. Excitement – joy – a feeling of camaraderie – a feeling of being in friendship with a country – and within a tenderness for what is called The United States of America.
Oh country, dear country – how awake and alive you seem.
But that was then. It stood for liberty, for freedom for equality, for wisdom and for conquest of the unknown. It was bold then and not afraid. Won’t you awake, oh country of mine? Arise and see the disgrace to which you’ve fallen. Once a land of justice and wisdom – now you kill your innocent unborn and protect the rights of the guilty. A country built on the principle of freedom of religion has now become a country of freedom from religion. Reckless with the lives of those you harbor – you call perversion an alternate lifestyle and seek to protect it – and so condemn to their perversion those who’ve stumbled. But since justice has been perverted, is it not to be expected that social norms would be also?
Oh country, dear country of mine – won’t you awake?
How I long for the glory that had been yours – before wisdom gave way to foolishness! As I stand on the street today and look, I see decay and poverty. Mirrored in the faces of those who pass, a sense of hopelessness and despair. Now the feelings of that day long ago have given way to feelings of sadness and sorrow as I see a country in its decline.
Oh country, dear country of mine – won’t you awake?
You cannot pervert justice and remain strong. You cannot deny truth and retain wisdom. You cannot teach personal rights above all else and have strong and capable government.
Oh country, dear country of mine – won’t you awake?
The sun breaks from its confinement of the night and sheds its pale morning light across this solemn land – and I see in its glow a question of mine.
Oh country, dear country of mine – won’t you awake?
