FOURTH OF JULY TIDBITS

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

— Thomas Paine

“I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

— Patrick Henry

“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.”

— Benjamin Franklin

On July 4th, the United States of America will be 242 years old. That’s a long time for a nation to remain free. But, when you take the long, historical view, America is just a child among the nations. Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, or Greece all make America’s history seem so short.

Consider what a brief time we’ve really been here as a nation: When Thomas Jefferson died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17; when Lincoln was assassinated, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8, and; by the time the nation mourned the death of President Wilson, Ronald Reagan was a boy of 12.