Life, Liberty and Pursuit

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

These words for the Deceleration of Independence are often quoted on the fourth of July and should be.  They are declared to be our God given rights for all humans even though the “men” who wrote them thought of them as rights for only men and at that did not cover their slaves. Still it was a beginning for the idea of God given rights of individual people.

LIFE: We have the right to be born and live out our lives with out threat from the government. Life itself is sacred and should be protected. There are times when governments do take lives when a jury of our peers convict someone of murder or other capitol crimes and inflicts the death penalty.

LIBERTY: We have the right to move about at our own discretion with out hindrance of our government and to do as we please unless it interferes with the rights of other citizens. That right can be curtailed by the courts if we violate the law and are convicted of it.

PURSUIT: We have the right to pursuit of happiness but that does not mean we have to find happiness. We can look for it in what ever way we choose as long as we do not violate the law or the right of others in the process.

All of our God given rights are precious but come with responsibility for our actions in exercising them in a civilized society.  Lives were given in the past for the support of these rights and are being given even now. Let us dedicate our selves on the forth of July to preserve them for ourselves and our fellow citizens now and in the future.