Independence Day I saw a bumper sticker that read “Celebrate Diversity”. I think celebrating diversity alone is not very diverse. I celebrate Freedom. The Freedom to be make good decisions and bad, the Freedom to speak against power and oppression, the Freedom to talk in ignorance as I acquire knowledge, and the Freedom to raise my voice in protest and joy. I celebrate Liberty. Liberty embodied in the concepts of freedom from arbitrary despotic rule or restriction. Liberty, a beacon of ethereal light so brightly shining onto all the world that the entire world notices when that beacon starts to falter. I celebrate Individuality. The recognition that through struggle and work and hardship a single voice can rise up out of the wilderness of oppression and injustice and indifference, singing out to finally be heard amidst the sea of white noise to liberate a person and a people, to protect the persecuted, to right a wrong, and to assert yet again the self-evident truths of Independence and Individualism. That shining, singular voice, reminding us that security is no substitute for Freedom, and that the ultimate security is the strength of and respect for the Individual. I celebrate Diversity. The Diversity of the immigrants drawn to our shores because of the promise of Freedom, Liberty, and respect for the Individual. That through Diversity of people and ideas we reinvent ourselves and nature reinvigorates itself. Without Diversity the future closes in on us, limiting our descendants to repetition and stagnation. That so long as the Diversity of the worlds bravest and most desperate come together to become Americans, then there will always be a vibrant, shining America. I celebrate them all: Freedom, Liberty, Individuality and Diversity. I celebrate America.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 22:23:43 +0000
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