It's not all about Benjamin Franklin
It's easy to think of the Fourth of July as a time to remember the illustrious likes of Benjamin Franklin or John Adams, and to sit back and merely consider the birth of our nation, but something I heard in one of our radio shows made me think again about what Independence Day really means.
It's an easy thing to listen to half-hour comedies or suspense thrillers and see them as purely entertainment, but every so often something leaps from the speaker and grabs my attention and today was a perfect example.
This week it was a short offering from Father Knows Best entitled Meaning of Freedom where Dad explains that the freedom from tyranny is more than just an idea and that its enshrinement in our hearts and minds was, and is, more than just something we can ascribe to our forefathers. We, as a nation, fought for freedom and still fight for freedoms. From every corner of our nation came a piece of the bright tapestry of our constitution and from each and every one of us still comes the vital threads by which that great work is constantly sustained.
For me I suppose that's the key to being an American. It's not just to have ideals, but to seek out injustice, abuse or outright tyranny and actively rail against it. This Independence Day I can be proud to know that I belong to a nation that was built on a declaration that truly lives on in its people even now.
At RUSC we are proud to celebrate our holiday by remembering the moments of our past through the 'moments' in our present that we share with you on this site. We note just how many shows harken back to the times when our identity was emerging and our national soul was born. Matt Dillon is one such character who draws us back to those years when we were taking our first tentative steps as a people, The Great Gildersleeve reminds us of our sense of humor and ability to laugh at ourselves throughout indignity, and many of the episodes in the series X Minus One draw us onward to the bright adventures that may yet be our future.
I invite you to listen this week to perhaps one or two of our shows that are new to you because there are simply so many that, although decades old, are as current today in their portrayal of a nation that still sees the best in itself, wishes its own freedoms for others and strives tirelessly to that end.
The New Colossus
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name,
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
As well as the shows that we will be adding this week you can click here for a list of shows relating to our American Day of Independence. And may I wish you and your family a gloriously happy Fourth of July.
Happy listening my friends,
