July 4th

July 4th. Independence Day. This day has long been one of our favorite holidays. When our kids were young, and as they grew older, and when they were no longer living with us, this was a special day. It always involved food and fireworks. Fireworks in St. Louis or San Francisco or West Point, Mississippi, depending on where we were living.



I hope everyone stops and thinks about what today really means. It is more than a day off or as the case this year, a long weekend. Think about independence. What does that mean. In the United States that means freedom to do just about anything one chooses. Thousands have fought and died to maintain that independence. Are we grateful for that independence? I hope so.



I live in a free country now. But not in the same way the United States is free. There are free elections here. There is freedom of speech, press, and religion. And I thank God daily for these freedoms. There is freedom to move about and travel. But the president can choose to close the ariport and keep it closed. The government chooses to hold the majority of the population hostage in the chains of poverty. For most of the impoverished there is little to no hope of ever breaking free from the cycle of poverty that enslaves them. People that work long hard hours and make almost nothing, hoping their daily wages will feed their children at the end of the day. Or buy their school uniforms and fees. An education for their children might be the only hope of escaping this cycle. The uniforms and fees are expensive for someone that makes three dollars and fifty cents a day, another way the government chooses to restrict people and keep them in poverty.



Today, as you feast with family and friends and, possibly, watch fireworks, think about each and every freedom you enjoy in the United States. And then get on your knees and thank God for each one of them.

Terri