Saturday, July 4, 2009

INDEPENDENCE FROM OPPRESSION By Arlyn M. Valencia, M.D.




So sweetly explosive is the idea of freedom that John Adams had written to his wife Abigail: "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more." And generations after that, American Independence Day, has been celebrated, on fourth of July. Nobody really cared about the 2 day difference. The "Fourth Of July" even took a more profound meaning when the two founding fathers of the United States, the only two authors of the "Declaration of Independence" to become presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, the fourth of July 1826.

With bells, whistles, fireworks, guffaws, merriment, love and festivities have we all chosen to celebrate the freedom from oppression! It is this day that I would take time to celebrate my own freedom from the oppressive ties, that a majority of us know too well: the searing ties of loneliness and discontent. They restricted me from experiencing life as I did when I was a wide-eyed kid growing up, from having gratitude for all the blessings I had and had to share, and from loving to wake up, every morning, just for the sheer pleasure of it.

For the enjoyment of freedom can not be attained unless we are free from our oppressive selves.

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