Daily Note
Every day, a photograph, a poem. Today is the Fourth of July, on which day in 1776 the colonists declared their independence from their oppressors. I love this stylized picture I made from a photo taken during a Fourth of July, Celebration of America years ago in front of Grand Coulee Dam. The gathering here of a diverse people, sharing the moment, appreciating the idea that all are created equal with basic human rights touched my heart as I was so joyful for all we, as Americans, had created.
Though not a perfect union yet, we gathered in acceptance of one another and, for the most part, lived that acceptance.
Today, America is going through a digression, an opposition to the declaration of that day so many years ago. We chose to form a representative government to back those ideals of equality and justice and pursuit of happiness. But today, a group of people strive to make some of us less than equal. Well, most of us: women, people of color, immigrants [of which the original colonists were], people whose religious views are different, people who live differently. That is unAmerican. And most of us will stand for what is the ideal fought for so many years ago, and again in the Civil War, and again in World Wars.
Today is a day to remember what being an American means. I am thankful for my neighbors— whose differences represent the gamut of those creating laws of discrimination— and am so glad that our neighborhood lives the ideals of that Declaration. And we will stand for making that ideal remain real.
To learn about the Declaration of Independence, see the National Archives website. To read a transcript, it’s provided by the National Archives on this page. A few words from the transcript:
“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776
About the picture:
This is one of my favorite pictures. It’s created with the app Painteresque from my Fourth of July photo during the Grand Coulee Chamber of Commerce‘s Festival of America. We even used it as the cover for a tab in our local newspaper.
The festival, though sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, is implemented each Fourth of July by volunteer community members in the park below Grand Coulee Dam, whose 155 mile long reservoir is known as the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
And so, a poem….
Poetry
Declaration
Self-evident it is
Sheri Edwards
that freedom within community
demands mutual respect
of one another
with consent to agree
to live together,
accepting of differences,
allowing each to live
peacefully among our diversity
as we are equal with unalienable Rights,
including Life, Liberty,
and the pursuit of Happiness;
as a people that is
our highest law
upon which
in 1776
we acknowledged
our consent to a government
representing all of us under
the Laws of Nature
and of Nature’s God,
but not any one person’s God—
as written so clearly
all are created equal
with unalienable Rights.
Those accosting others —
making them unequal—
based on their personal beliefs
destroy what bound us
as a nation
those many years ago,
but we continue to pledge
our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor
to live the idea of that
Declaration of Independence,
of Freedom.
07.04.23 186.365.23
Poetry/Photography [See-Frame-Focus]
#clmooc #smallpoems #declarationofindependence #july4th #julyfourth #freedom
I wonder, if I draw a line... 