Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Refuge. Hope. Dreams. Bravery. Pride. Home. Freedom...
These are just some of the ways we describe life in our country. And rightfully so. We along with our ancestors have fought and died and sacrificed many things to live here, in a place where we can be called free men. Free of oppressive rule, free of religious dictatorship., free of one man telling and making us do everything his way. And we've done so because we understand that no man should be ruled by another, that we are all created equal. And that we should have the opportunity to choose how we will live out our lives.
After all, how can one man take hold of the authority that Christ Himself did not even claim?
When the first settlers came to this country, they knew what they were doing. Stepping out and breaking away from all they had ever known. Leaving their friends, families and homes. Following the truth that they knew in their hearts. And embarking on a long journey to find a place where men could be free.
They understood that God is a God of love and light. And that in order to follow this God they had come to love, in order to teach their children about him, they must leave all that they knew behind.
And so they sat in the dark on a tiny ship in the middle of the ocean, journeying many long days and nights, fingering the worn pages of their bibles by the candlelight. But not all was dark. Inside them burned an ember of hope, the hope that would lead them to create this great country. The hope that there can be a world where men can breath free, and find the Light for which they search their entire lives.
And we Americans, over two hundred years later, still carry that hope inside us. And doubly so if we are followers of Christ as these first men and women were. We live in a country completely different then the one those first settlers found when they hit shore after such a long journey. But the reasons they fought, lived and died are the same reasons that we have today.
Let us not abandon our dear country with apathy, complacency and selfishness. Instead let us go to God and say, "Where is my place in the world right now, will you show me?" And then listen and take our place among the names of those who fought bravely for what they knew to be right.
In Caritate
~ Chelsey
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