It is a good thing to be an avid student of American history.
The term “Miracle at Philadelphia” is not an exaggeration. Rarely, in the entire recorded history of the world, has there ever been such a gathering of intellect and vision–Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and the rest of that brilliant, argumentative crew–in one place, at one very crucial time. These brave men had to meet in secret to hammer out the groundwork for our system of government, for Franklin’s assertion that if they all didn’t hang together, they would surely hang seperately, was absolutely true.
Still darker days were ahead–the odds against Washington’s undersupplied, undertrained, mostly ignorant army were astronomical. There was never enough of anything–food, blankets, boots, weaponry, ammunition. And yet, under the unwavering guidance of General Washington, they persisted. They put one foot in front of the other. Victory, against the greatest and best-supplied army in the world was virtually impossible. Cannons were brought from Ticonderoga, through the Berkshire mountains, in the depths of winter–by a jovial, overweight bookseller named Henry Knox. That was impossible, too, but it happened.
Surviving the winter at Valley Forge. Again, impossible.
Let’s leap ahead about 87 years, to the Civil War. The country was literally broken in two. Mending it? Impossible. And yet here we are.
Ditto, the Great Depression, the first and second world wars, and September 11, 2001.
And yet, here we are.
Our nation seems so troubled. Some of us feel almost hopeless, facing such challenges. But we are NOT hopeless. We have come through so many other trials–much worse than what we’re experiencing now.
My point? Don’t panic. Support your candidate–whichever one that is–generations of good people have sacrificed their lives to assure you that privilege. Believe in what we stand for–something so far above our mistakes, it’s almost celestial.
And remember, please–none of this is new. America, may God bless her and the hope she represents to every nation on earth, has ALWAYS been full of lively disagreement–right from that precious beginning in Philadelphia.
We are at liberty to disagree with each other, and fiercely.
THANK GOD.
