I just finished reading the biography of John Adams, the second president of the United States. If you read this book, you get a real sense of what people can truly believe in. So much so, that they would risk their lives for it.
I think that the real battles that were fought for over freedom are so quickly forgotten as things turn into global environment. A global environment isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but individuality, compelling virtues and morals, equality and human liberties still need to be respected and remembered.
July 4th isn’t just a day off, a picnic and some fireworks.
The White House and Capitol Hill are the cornerstones of US democracy. I think that has been lost in translation as the years have passed. Reading about Adams brings this to mind. By the time he passed away, it was fifty years to the day the independence was officially marked on the calendar. By the time he passed away, a second generation of citizens were enjoying the freedom that he partook in to provide.
When you look at the magnitude of what he and his contemporaries accomplished, that second generation was already living a life without oppression. A life that we still live today. We should remember what they did for posterity and honor that.
Drawing from the biography, written by David McCullough, while in the office of the presidency, in a letter to his wife, John Adams wrote a simple “benediction” about the White House: “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessing on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” This is quite a profound blessing for such an important dwelling. So much so that it is carved into the fireplace in the State Dinner Room of the White House.
Let’s hope that current occupant will bring justice back to this blessing because I don’t think the last did.