America is known for both its ideals and its words that motivate and hold inviolate our Republic. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights have served as models for other fledgling democracies around our planet Earth home. We are a nation that represents all the peoples of all other nations who have come to our shores to become Americans. We are not a perfect peoples. We are on a perfect mission to establish a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

It is most fitting that we pause to remember the words that have helped forge our country. Maybe we have enjoyed our freedom to the point of assumption, that it is the way it has always been for everyone. This is far from the truth. Men and women have died both here at home and on foreign fields to defend the right of others to live and to live free. In the month of June, we remember the devotion of millions around the world to stop the aggression of fascism. In the month of July, we pause to celebrate the beginnings our nation. This year America is 247 years young, by comparison to older cultures and nations. We remember their words.

As Americans, we must utilize this anniversary of our shared beginnings to come together at the invocation of these great words both in Scriptures and from our own leaders. Jesus Christ said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Vs. 39). The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it this way, “If a man has not found something worth dying for, he is not fit to live.”

Everyone must find their own words both to die for and to live for. We can look at someone’s checkbook registry to note how they spend their monies. However, we must look at someone’s behavior, to determine their character and hearts’ conviction. Find your words guide your behavior and renew your commitment to America and God. Pax.

James Weathersby

Augusta