Daily Note
Every day, a photograph, a poem. Yesterday I found a “3” in nature on the ground, and I also found a circular object, no doubt off a vehicle. It reminded me of an album I had created years ago in 2014 called Round and Around, photos taken as as I walked around our neighborhood one summer and as part of a challenge, “Around” in my #clmooc group. And so the album and its images comes around again, almost ten years later.
Round and round– again and again. Time passes, things change, and yet the essence of things remain the same. We all can recognize this piece of wood– I don’t remember if it is a dead tree, a log on the ground, a fence post– but its essence is wood. We recognize and remember its structure, its spirit, though aged, split, riddled with holes. We know it and remember what it once was: a beautiful tree.
And so, a poem…
Poetry
The Spirit
everything, everyone
Sheri Edwards
ages
changes
yet the essence remains
the roots
the soul
the spirit sustained
01.05.24 005.365.24
Poetry/Photography
The Spirit of a Nation
Also today, a quote displayed in one of my social media feeds, an important quote from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury, Connecticut Baptists in a response to their concerns. The letter was carefully drafted and revised to say exactly the message Thomas Jefferson wanted to convey about the new nation’s Constitution and Bill of Rights, concerning the Founder’s stance towards religion and government.
It was so important that he got it right, that he sought advice from two New England Republican politicians in his Cabinet. He consulted Postmaster General Gideon Granger of Connecticut and Attorney General Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts and took their council under advisement in his revisions.
Back then, many in the religious communites were still persecuted and many wanted religion in the government. But our nation was founded as a democracy, rule by the people, not the King or a Pope. The separation of church and state is established in the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
National Archives
Thomas Jefferson wanted the Baptists to know that their religion would not be interfered with, though the government was by the people, not from religion.
This is the quote from his letter:
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists
Jan. 1. 1802
Library of Congress
So it seems, round and around, time and again, we come to another crossroad– a time when religious men strive for power in government and deny our nation and its diverse peoples the right to govern themselves. Like the wood in the photo, we are divided, riddled with discontent. And yet the essence of this nation is that Church and State are separate– that ALL the people have a voice through our vote.
Just as you would not want to follow my religion and be forced to follow its rulings, so I will not follow yours. We each have our own right to our own beliefs or to no belief. That is one of the foundations of our government.
Our nation has aged. It has changed. We are even more diverse, and each one of us are bestowed with the civil rights that allow us all to live and let live. It is the essence of our freedom. We must sustain that spirit.
For more information about this topic and this letter by Thomas Jefferson, see these resources from the Library of Congress:
#smallpoems #clmooc #poetry24 #spirit #aging
I wonder, if I draw a line... 