The Flower Of Freedom

The hero is not one who succeeds in a single burst, but rather the one who does not relent.

David Wolpe
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Hello Val
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"The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower."
(William Cowper)

I think it's true to say any venture worth while is usually accompanied by a period of trial and test before success is achieved. Those tests are often difficult and painful. If you launch a ship out into the ocean without knowing where you are going you stand a chance of suffering all sorts of problems. If you start walking in a forest with no destination, it might be a pleasant walk, but you might also get lost. There's no substitute for knowing what you want.

In New Hampshire there is a mountain called Mount Washington. It's the tallest mountain in the northeast (6,288 feet). There are three ways of getting to the summit. You can drive. There's a road. When you get up there you can buy a bumper sticker that says "This car climbed Mt. Washington." You can take the train,. There's a cog railroad that goes from the base to the top. Or you can walk. There are several trials that go up. When I made the trip I took the scenic route. I hiked.

Washington is not the only tall mountain in those parts. Another one is called North Moat and though it's not as tall as Mt. Washington, the trail is steep and very difficult. On the day I hiked it when I finally came out of the timber line and into the open I was exhausted. I sat down, had my lunch and enjoyed the view. All I could see above me was rock. I couldn't see the summit. I though I might as well turn back.

But I had come out to climb the mountain, to reach the summit. So after a few minutes I picked my weary self up and kept going. I was relentless. As it turned out I was only about 15 minutes from the summit, and when I got there the view was magnificent and I felt like I was standing on top of the world.

A lot of politicians are telling us these days what the Founding Fathers wanted. We don't know what they wanted other than what they said. Freedom to farm and ply their trades without interference, freedom to worship the way they wanted to and freedom from an oppressive government. It was a simple thing to declare independence. But they had to fight a war to claim it. Death, destruction, mayhem, injury, misery, loss of property, desperate circumstances were the bitter buds of that freedom. It was enough to make some men turn back. But there were the relentless ones. They had a goal, a result, a summit and they weren't going to stop until they got there.

Are we now enjoying the sweet flower of that freedom, or not?

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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AUTUMN QUESTION

What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

Only 5 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I await your answers.
DB
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Watch The Sword

Year by year, the Congress and the Senate must become of less account before all decent men.

Charles Dickens
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There is a sword hanging over America's head and it was put there by the Founding Fathers. Most of those who freely refer to those men have no bedrock idea who they were. Someone should write a book, if it hasn't already been written, about what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence. How many lost their property, how many lost their families, how many were tortured by the British, how many were killed.

To stand up against the most powerful nation in the Western World took unimaginable courage and faith, what Schopenhauer called "reckless optimism." If we had lost the War of Independence George Washington would have been tortured and hung on the street in London, and he knew it.

And why did they do it, that disparate crowd of men who frequently disagreed with each other but who came to agree about what they had to do, to make a nation, a new land, a land of the free and courageous, a beacon to the world that personal rights and self government were achievable ideas. And along with that commitment came a challenge sent to the future, sent to us, from the hearts of men who risked everything.

When Charles Dickens visited America he observed American institutions and our way of life and found how much it had degenerated even in 100 years. Slavery was everywhere, rudeness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, corruption, all things he didn't expect of find. He wrote "Year by year, the memories of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged more and more, by the bad life of their degenerate child."

The current state of politics in this country is a betrayal of the gifts of those original thinking men and women. The avowed agendas of the recently elected members of Congress are a disgrace. Other nations are saying without equivocating that they don't want us in their lands. Worn out useless contracts are being brought out for acceptance by people who have not learned the ways of good government. Our future as a world leader and beacon is uncertain. Politicking has become a macabre joke, third rate entertainment. There are "decent men," intelligent adults in this country, somewhere. The sword doesn't need to fall. But it's hanging there.

DB
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AUTUMN QUESTION

(This is not a contest.)

At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?

8 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
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