Yaffee: Earn this Independence Day

On every Independence Day, we often remember these words from the Declaration of Independence:

“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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

When reading these words we realize that we are not only celebrating our independence from Great Britain in 1776 but also our independence from the tyranny of the past.

Through most of human history governments have consisted of totalitarian rulers who rule over the people, which are seen merely as “subjects.” But in 1776, human history was changed and government was instituted as a necessary evil that was ultimately ruled by the people.

In thinking about our history on Independence Day, though we often forget one of the most important parts of the Declaration of Independence, which is the conclusion of the document.

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

In reading this we realize that our founders were making a great sacrifice in order to preserve liberty for the people. In fact Benjamin Franklin told the signers of the Declaration, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

These men were willing to give all they had, including their fortunes and their very lives, in order that people in America might taste the sweetness of liberty.

I have to wonder, though, if the people in our country today are willing to do the same.

While it is not required of us now to fight against a ruling totalitarian government, it is required of all of us to make sacrifices in order to preserve that which was fought for be our founding fathers. Freedom is never free, but must constantly be fought for against the forces of evil in tyranny in the world. We must realize that there are always forces within and without our country that will try to put humanity back in the chains of tyranny.

I am often reminded of this fact when I watch the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, one of the best movies that depicts how the American soldiers fought in World War II. It’s about a certain group of soldiers who were asked to find Private Ryan in order to take him out of the fighting in Europe and send him back home to the United States. He was being sent home because all of his brothers died in the fighting and he would be the only one to carry on the bloodline.

These soldiers eventually found Ryan, but unfortunately most of them were all killed in the process. One of the most impactful scenes in the movie is when Captain John Miller is dying of his wounds. While dying, he looks up towards Ryan and said something that can never be forgotten. He tells Ryan to “earn this.” Ryan eventually visited the grave of John Miller many years later and told him how he had done his best to earn his freedom by raising his family right and living a good and decent life for his country.

The challenge to all of us on this Independence Day is the same challenge Miller gives to Ryan. Let us earn our freedom by living good and decent lives, raising our families right, giving due praise to our creator, and making the necessary sacrifices needed to ensure that our children will enjoy the same freedoms we have been so blessed with. I hope that all of us will be willing to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor in order to preserve this greatest nation on earth.

“The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim.” –George Washington, letter to Colonel Bassett, Apr. 25, 1773

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” –Ronald Reagan

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee