PrintNovember 26, 2009
Thanksgiving thoughts found on a ceramic coaster
I lifted my coffee cup and there it was. On the ceramic coaster was an American flag and three words; God, Family, Country. I was touched. Since this coaster never had this effect on me before, and because of the agonizing state of affairs in America today, I will try to express why I was so moved by those three words on the coaster.
GOD. There is no sensible rebuttal to the argument that some spiritual force in the universe created all things. We think we think, but it is God thinking through us. If this were not so, it is doubtful that any men could have created such a beneficent idea as our system of government. What most of our Founders believed, and put their faith in, was a Divine Being. It is this Divine Being that remains forever unchanged; and which makes the truth of America’s ideals everlasting.
FAMILY. When God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply how could He have meant anything but creating a man and a woman? And what man co-created, thereafter, was the “family” of man. That explains why family is so important; and why family has become the foundation of what has made America what it is. It is a stain on this great nation’s reputation for love of family to see how the family unit is being forsaken and all but destroyed. The sacredness of family life, which has been our country’s bastion against the world’s vicissitudes, is the heart that keeps the body of America alive.
COUNTRY. History is replete with examples of man’s inability to live together in peace and harmony. From stones and clubs, knives and swords, bayonets and guns, atomic bombs and nuclear devices, man’s struggle for freedom has always been in danger, with solutions seemingly out of reach. But 300 years ago a group of visionaries saw an opportunity to create at least one place on this planet that would give men the freedom, independence and peace they longed for. Then they drew up a document which put their vision into words. And America--a different kind of country--was born. And it is our obligation, our duty, our birthright, to keep that vision and its reality intact.
Around the world, devotion to one’s country seems in short supply these days. But not here. The quality of the coffee I drink may change, but the words on the ceramic coaster under my cup never will.
