Independence - upheld…

Monday, Americans will celebrate our Independence Day: 

Independence Day is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4, 1776. 

Wikipedia 

It’s next Sunday however, when Americans should commemorate the event that upheld our country’s independence; it was the event that prevented the United States from literally being divided into two, separate countries - and it came with a horrific toll. 

July 3^rd, 1863 was the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Of all the Americans who have ever died in all the wars our country has ever fought, almost half - 620,000 - died in the Civil War.  And of all the Civil War battles, the one battle with the highest casualties was Gettysburg – 51,000 Americans.  During the Battel of Gettysburg, Picket’s Charge on July 3^rd, 1863 was the deciding, bloody clash. 

I know today the Confederacy; their monuments; and their flag are easily vilified.  But 159 years ago, this battle was fought by brave souls both North and South who believed in their cause.  Thankfully, freedom triumphed over slavery; unity triumphed over divisiveness.  But do remnants remain today?  Is our country’s “civil war” over?  Are we civil towards our fellow Americans? 

civ·il 

courteous and polite 

I believe every American should visit the Gettysburg National Military Park and pay tribute to the memory of those Americans that preserved the continuation of our union.   

Thankfully, the Union, and the succinct commemoration by one of our greatest leaders (who also gave his life for his country) prevailed: 

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. 

Abraham Lincoln spoke to unite all Americans, North and South.  July 4^th as well as July 3^rd are days for us to remember; to honor; and to celebrate a united, United States of America.  

May God bless you; and may God bless America! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.