Declarations
This is less an art related post and more a thoughts on politics and observations post. It’s the 4th of July, and in America, that’s Independence Day.
A little history about the holiday:
During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
Adams’ prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress. Historians have long disputed whether Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.
In a remarkable coincidence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence to later serve as President of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
Yeah – I got all that from Wikipedia. Anyway…What does freedom mean to you? What is a Declaration of Independence? How do you define and declare your independence? What do you need to define yourself as being independent from? Is there something in your life you can use to take this day and make it personal?
234 years ago, the baby nation of America struggled to assert its independence from Britian. In the intervening years, we’ve fought battles with Mexico, Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, to name a few. We’ve participated in “peacekeeping” efforts in other countries, almost always losing someone’s son or daughter in the mission.
Yet here, on our own soil, there are people who are not free. People who are trapped by mental and physical illness that cannot be cared 
for, because of a lack of government funding for health care. Women, children and pets are terrorized by abusive husbands and fathers. Entire neighborhoods are trapped in their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire of gang warfare. The “war on drugs” is a losing battle, because the addicts are still trapped in a cycle of desperation, and the children are often the victims of this struggle – by losing their homes, being affected by chemical exposure, burns, and neglect.
What is freedom to you? Where should our government money go in this day and age? To protect others? To build new nation-states? To display our military might all over the world?
Or should we come back home, to America, and make this truly the land of the free and the home of the brave? Help the ones who are helpless here on our own soil? Feed the hungry, care for the sick, shelter the homeless – this is freedom. A country that does not care for its own is no free country at all.
Typically I will look at artwork for Saturday Morning Art Blogging, but today, I’m going to tell you about a movie. First of all, movies can be art, and that’s my link for the purpose of including it in my blogging. Last night, the boyfriend and I went to the Mayan Theater here in Denver to see Terribly Happy, also known as Frygtelig lykkelig, the Danish submission for the 2009 Oscars.
