This is a closing post tracing the impact of America’s revolution on our political and moral priorities today. The focus is on freedom in its many meanings in America and around the world.
The Battle Hym of the Republic is sung at virtually all patriotic celebrations.
The text was by abolitionist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe. The music is from an 1850s camp-meeting song with the title “Say, Brother, Will You Meet Us?” The tune was also used for the song “John Brown’s Body,” with text about the raid on Harper’s Ferry.
The poetic words include righteous anger, “He (God) is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” The final stanza is a call to moral action by those hearing the words now.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
While God is marching on.
A Timeless Example for those Yearning to be Free
America’s history of constant, unending endeavors for a more perfect union has inspired individuals around the world. One of the most dramatic situations today is Ukraine’s fight for independence after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
A Ukrainian writer thanked Americans in his Independence Day greeting. Viktor Kravchuk living in Kyiv has approximately 40,000 US readers in all states . He expresses what America and her people mean to him.
I know many of you are worried about your own country. Since today is your birthday, I need to tell you what I have seen.
I have seen Americans stand with Ukraine when they did not have to. I have seen Americans treat the survival of people thousands of miles away as part of their own moral life.
That is why I respect you.
You, the people of the United States who have stood with us, have my respect. You have the respect of this Ukrainian, and I am absolutely sure you have the respect of many people here who will never know your names, but live under a sky you helped us defend.
A promise can be damaged and still carried forward by ordinary people.
You carried it all the way to Ukraine.
Freedom needs friends, and this country found many of them in you.
Happy Independence Day, America.
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My wife Lyubov is the one who treats impossible things as a small inconvenience. So for America’s 250th, she arranged a meeting between two women who had only heard of each other. (drawing below)
One brought a torch, one brought a shield.
To many years more, my friends. Thank you for your friendship, and I will never stop celebrating those who deserve it.
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(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAqNe-m0a8s)