America is Great Because America is Good

I remember the first time I visited New York City and took a ferry ride to Ellis Island across the Hudson River. Thoughts came to mind about American history that I had learned in school. I thought about the immigrants from around the world and why they had come – and are still coming – to America.

I thought about the difference between freedom and tyranny, as much as I understood it. I thought about the words on the tablet, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send those, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."  A concept that America was a land made up of generally good people who valued each individual human life like no other country in the world. A land people wanted to come to. Not a land people wanted to escape from.

A famous quote attributed to French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville in 1840 is this: "I sought for the key to America's greatness and genius in her harbors … in her fertile fields and boundless fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

We should never take for granted the cost of freedom or treat it lightly. It is a gift from God and a wonderful right we, as citizens of the United States, can cherish.

The promise of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” lives on and beats in the very heart of every man, woman and child in our great nation. Each of us has the freedom to live as we desire, work, pursue an education, worship, speak our mind and vote our conscience.

Today, as we celebrate this freedom, let’s remember to give thanks for it and pray for God’s protection, provision and guidance for the good of all people in our great country.