Freedom, Equality, Liberty

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Today, we take in vain all of our honored dead from these pasts. As has also been said, America remembers the wars, not the blood. These men, women, children, and people of all types gave their lives for the freedom that this Country was based on. From the Revolutionary War, to the Civil War, we fought on this soil with our blood for OUR FREEDOM.

By allowing the things that have transpired, such as giving up all of our basic freedoms in the ideas of 'safety' and 'protection', we have severely dishonored every last sacrifice that has ever been given to this great Country of ours. If any of us, be us man, woman, child, black, white, straight or homosexual, trans, or anyone else allow these things to continue and in such a light as they are so blatantly obvious, we are denouncing the deaths of millions. We are throwing every last sacrifice into the refuse bin to be discarded along with our freedoms.

This Nation was once, as Abraham Lincoln so solidly stated, "of the people, by the people, for the people," but can we say that is still the case? Do you truly feel our Nation is run BY you? Do you feel it is run FOR you or is created of you? Or do you feel a pressure to jump, hide, and look over your shoulder for 'the man' watching? Do you feel the invasion of many laws which are both unconstitutional and an affront to the sacrifices of brave individuals throughout history?

We, as a Nation, must remember that our forefathers placed a sovereign duty upon us to uphold those sacrifices and the truth of our Constitution. We were set upon with the idea that if our Government became intrusive and malignant that we were to pull it down and set it aright. Not only for us, but for the world and freedom we believe in.

How is it that so many 'patriots' exist in a Country that has trod upon the very core of patriotism by denouncing many of our Constitutional rights? How is it that our great Country, which only fought to be free for all, spends most of it's time attempting to oppress one type of person or another.

This is not to say that it is completely the fault of those in charge, and yet it is to say exactly that. Though, in a sense that WE are those who should be 'in charge' according to the laws set down in ages past and written in the blood of mere boys. How many of us would condemn another for a sexual preference, a physical trait, or even the glance one might give in passing? Have we forgotten that it was not only the Whites, or the great Men of that time who fought for this Country? Do we not remember that women, blacks, and people of ALL TYPES gave everything to keep our Country free from oppression and to maintain the rights we believed all people should have?

I charge you, as a human being, as a citizen of the United States of America, not to push an agenda, not to harass others to a way of thinking and not to pass this on in anger and self-righteous fury. I charge you, as a human being and a citizen of a Country that has long bled for its freedom, to pass this on in love and remembrance of the blood spilled by countless dead who believed in a world that we have let fall to the wayside. I charge each and every one of us to look within ourselves and ask, truly, if we are free, if we have upheld the memories of those we have lost.

If they were all returned to our soil at this exact moment. Do you believe they would be pleased with their sacrifice? Or would they weep for the freedoms we have willingly allowed to pass in to that good night?

Each of us should take a moment of our day to stop and remember, to stop and make a decision. Are we to become a Country just like any other, or will we stand up and return to ourselves what we have lost?

Will we stand United and Free.... Or will we fall, divided by religion, sex, color and thought, to the darkest places in history, because that is where we are heading.

It does not matter what you call it; Racism, Sexism, Feminism, Meninism, hate is hate and we breed it like cattle. It is time to stop hating and to start standing together in the face of a much larger enemy... Ourselves.