"We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature.
Glorious it is for Americans to be called by Providence to this post
of honor.''
So spoke Benjamin Franklin to the French Court in the early stages
of a young country's struggle for freedom. Franklin made it clear on
many occasions: Happiness came with a high price, and the biggest
payment was a truthful and virtuous life! If he were with us today,
what would he think?
The greeting card is not a happy one this Fourth of July, and the
Founding Fathers' "pursuit of happiness" has become twisted with
greed, indifference, incompetence and self-indulgence.
Because of an uplifting moment recently occurring on our streets,
involving a postal employee and a Burbank Police officer, both
offering help to a fellow stranded human, I could not help but
wonder, as I travel around our town, what will become of us in the
future? Will Burbank stay the course and always be the kind of
community that encourages acts of kindness to flourish?
America, on the whole, seems to be in a permanent state of denying
that it has abandoned the better angels of human nature. Sept. 11 was
a second day of infamy in our history! Sure, we slowed down, just as
we do passing the "scene'' on those ribbons of terror we call
freeways. However, this was no Tuesday-morning accident, and it shook
us to the core of our souls. We cried, we felt anguish, expressed
contempt and made our share of patriotic donations and purchases, but
always, we are Americans, and we have again climbed back up to speed
in just nine months.
All that remains is the journey through harm's way for the flower
of our youth, as we slowly forget they are fighting for the dignity
and happiness of human nature against an extreme ideology that hates
our way of life beyond reason and wants us dead. All of us.
The hallmark of a good country is how the young and the old are
treated, and sadly, our public face does not match our private
behavior.
Presently, in America, we kill and abuse our young and have no
respect or use for our old. Let us look at a reality list that
Americans seem reluctant to deal with this sacred national holiday.
Starting with our young, who slaughter for attention or for some
perceived slight. And those trendy body-piercing gothic types, who
already in their young lives are so steeped in rebellious hate they
may never recoup sensibility.
Priests who cannot keep their vows or their hands off young boys
and girls while their leaders cover up for them Coaches and teachers
