Life and Freedom
In this 250th celebration, lets all remember who and what this country is really about. While you celebrate, no matter how you may feel, remember the following:
Get up, stand up, dress up, show up, and never give up. Vote. May God continue to bless America. Enjoy.
Life and Freedom
By Beverley J. Davis
Ask not what your country can do for you, nor for whom the bell tolls, nor ask the sparrow how the eagle soars. Life pondered these quotes as he thought about the death of his friend, Freedom. Losing his friend took the life out of him. Your death diminishes us all, complicating and challenging our lives.
Walk down any street; there are no real signs of outrage over this loss. There is only stillness and fear; fear that civility has eluded us, and the hope that Freedom will return has totally vanished.
My friend Freedom never asked for much, just the right to live, to work, to have financial stability, and to think critically. But the bell tolled for him.
Freedom dared not ask the sparrow why the eagle soared. He knew the eagle was a free spirit, strong, able to roam and nest on the highest mountain or the lowest tree whenever and wherever it chose. Alas, my sparrow, your wings are small and won’t allow you that freedom. They limit you in distance and speed, yet you still dare to try. Freedom encouraged you. Soar, little one. Soar.
Life never had a chance to ask Freedom what he had done for his country.
But he left Life a note.
Dear Old Friend,
Things may be bleak and dark now, but I will rise. Yes, I’ll be missed for a while, but I will rise again. Like the sparrow, I will take tiny steps; I’ll plan, organize, protest, and fight back. And I will rise like the Sun in the early morning, hang in there through the night, and rise again like the Sun.
Death cannot hold me. I have left a spark, a tiny flame that will ignite and flare. Be patient. Wait. Don’t fret, for I am in the DNA of man. Don’t grieve or worry about whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee, for Life and Freedom are connected. We walk hand in hand.
My country, our country, “tis of thee; Sweet land of Liberty, of thee I sing.” We, Life and Freedom, are connected and share a common humanity and mortality. My death relates to you–you, for whom the bell tolls.
