My Country

Every day as a little girl in elementary school, we stood and said the pledge of allegiance to our flag. Then we sang the first verse of this song.

It has been with me ever since.

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!

There is another verse I also remember singing:

Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!

I love my country, I love my freedom, I love my God.

This Memorial Day

We are free today because of another’s loss on this Memorial Day.

Let’s not let our veterans’ loss, who willingly gave their lives so we could be free, go in vain.

Yes, we mourn the loss of those lives, they were our own flesh and blood, brother, sister, father, mother, aunt and uncle, neighbor and friend.

Yet I don’t believe they want us stuck in a state of mourning over them, they would want us living daily in the victory they fought and gave their lives for us to have.

Today and always let us remember to keep the hard fought-for freedoms our ancestors died so we could have.

They were looking ahead toward future generations and their well-being of life, of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

What is one thing I can be thankful today because of their loss for my gain?

What is one thing I can do going forward to continue this freedom for my family and future generations?

Land of the Free – Home of the Brave!

Often when we hear these words, we think about war and fighting with weapons for freedom.

Yet freedom of speech and the war about words was really what started it all. Human beings want/need to be heard, have an input, see worth in what they want to bring into life.

I think it’s an act of bravery to speak up for yourself in any area of life today…so much concern about political correctness, what would G’ma think, what will the neighbors say …’if I said that!’?

We talk about the status quo, but if we don’t challenge it by speaking out against it for change and improvement, that’s not brave and it won’t help our freedom.

I’m not talking about rebellion and anarchy just for the sake or proving someone wrong or fighting authority. I’m talking about challenging ideas and methodologies we’ve been ingrained with that are no longer serving us. They are extracting from us, rather than adding to us.

That takes bravery/courage to speak up and begin to question– so things might be rethought –and necessary reforms take place.

Just because, ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ or ‘this is the way we’ve always thought’, doesn’t mean it is working for us now.

Use your freedom!

Don’t be afraid to think constructive thoughts how things, activities, processes, relationships, organization and organizations can be changed to work better, smoother, more efficiently, effectvely.

Learn to enjoy the freedom of thinking, and talk with others about it.

Be brave, start now!