By Jessica Gorman
This weekend, our country celebrates 250 years. It’s a time to celebrate. It’s a time to remember and reflect. It’s also a time to consider how we shape the future.
For me, Independence Day is a day for remembering my Revolutionary War Patriot ancestors. They were men from vastly different backgrounds. While most were born in the colonies, others were immigrants from Germany and Switzerland. They each supported the fight for independence whether through military service, civil service, or providing material aid. Among them is Samuel Beall, my 8th great-grandfather, one of the “12 immortal judges” of Frederick County, Maryland who were the first to repudiate the Stamp Act in 1765.
We have a tendency to look back at history in a way that makes it larger than life, but we can’t allow ourselves to forget it was life. The founding of our country was real life for ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. They made extraordinary choices that came with extraordinary risk not knowing what the outcome would be. If we were in their shoes, would we have made the same decisions? It’s easy to say, “yes”, to forget that we know the outcome. They were faced with decisions that not only altered the course of their own lives but created a new nation.
We are privileged to live in that nation today, not because it’s perfect or because its history is perfect, but because it is a country we are allowed to shape. We have a say, we get to decide. All throughout the imperfect history of this country are the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make it even better. They are the stories of people who chose to stand up for what they believe in, to work for the common good, to make extraordinary choices in the face of extraordinary risk, when they had no idea what the outcome would be.
Six years ago, I was planning my son’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor. In planning the ceremony script, I ran across the Eagle Scout Charge. Although these words are specifically directed to new Eagle Scouts, I feel that they are a reflection of the spirit that founded this country, the spirit of those who have shaped its history since, and I think they apply to us all, and so, I share them here.
“America has many good things to give you and your children after you; but these good things depend for the most part on the quality of her citizens. Our country has had a great past. You can help make the future even greater.”
“I charge you to undertake your citizenship with a solemn dedication. Be a leader, but lead only toward the best. Lift up every task you do and every office you hold to the highest level of service to God and to your fellow man.”
“So live and serve, that those who know you will be inspired to finer living. I charge you to be among those who dedicate their hearts, hands, skills, and abilities to the common good. Help to build America’s future by continuing to set an example of clean living, honest work, unselfish citizenship and reverence for God, whatever others may do. You will leave behind you a record of which you may be justly proud.”
This is patriotism in its truest sense. Patriotism, love of country, isn’t believing that our country or its history is perfect. It’s embracing the imperfection, the humanity, and stepping up to make it even better. It’s acknowledging that we define what our country is and what it becomes. The greatness of our country lies in its people.
Arguably, the most important lesson we can learn from our history is to not stand idly by. May we all choose to do as so many who came before us, to give of ourselves in service to something greater and to do so without consideration for self and may that be the gift we give to our country in honor of its 250th birthday.
(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, President of the Minden Cemetery Association, and an avid genealogist.)