A day of remembrance
The Fourth of July is not a day of celebration, but it is a day of remembrance — the brave ones who gave all for us, the courageous ones who gave everything, and the soul-searchers who believed it could come to pass.
James L. Weaber Sr.
Weaver
Those who have paid the price
On July 4,1776, delegates to the Continental Congress voted to accept the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. Fifty-six super patriots signed it on Aug. 2, these were well-educated and prosperous businessmen. Some of these men were captured, stripped of their homes and properties, and lost their fortunes at the hands of the British.
These men made a pledge to defend the sovereignty of the nation and the liberty for all, they paid a heavy price to achieve the liberty we now enjoy.
I never realized the price those 56 men paid until it was brought to my attention and I looked it up and read how our freedom became a reality.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said it: Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.
So, when you are cooking your hot dogs and enjoying the fireworks, do the same thing I do and say a prayer of thanks to our brave men and women in uniform and reflect on what the Fourth means to you. It means freedom to me.
Mary E. Militano
Jacksonville
Words of Founding Fathers
I believe the Fourth of July should be a day when all Americans should read the words our Founding Fathers wrote so many years ago. Those words should hold more meaning to Americans now more than ever. “...They are endowed, by their Creator, certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The American dream is just as alive today as it was in 1776. Politicians always ask what our Founding Fathers meant when they drafted the Declaration of Independence. It is quite clear what idea our Founding Fathers were trying to relay to King George III.
As our leaders guide our nation, let them remember the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
Let them remember these words when they pass laws that trample on my rights as a Christian while catering to the wants of a few. The Fourth of July? It’s a day when the first Americans declared to their leaders that they had had enough.
Eric Hawkins
Oxford
Birth of the nation
I have always loved the Fourth of July because it is the birth of our nation and is also the date of my birth.
Ralph P. Bolt
Anniston
Good times in Lineville
I remember the way we celebrated Fourth of July when I was a girl, right after World War II, in Lineville. We caught a ride with my uncle, because we didn’t have a car. He had a pickup, so we put chairs in the back and rode back there. There was a big singing at the elementary school, and that little town was full of people.
There were washtubs of lemonade on the corners, and people were shooting fire crackers.
When the time came to go home, we bought lemons and sugar and went by the ice house for a block of ice so we could make ice cream and lemonade. Our ice cream freezer had to be turned by hand, so everybody took a turn until it couldn’t be turned anymore; then it was covered up for awhile so it would harden. My granddaddy would dip it into the bowls, and he usually took a bite in between dipping into each bowl, then he got to lick the dasher.
Mother made the lemonade and a pitcher of tea and everybody enjoyed the cold beverages. There was usually a crowd, and we wanted more ice cream, so Daddy went and milked the cow and we made another freezer of ice cream.
Daddy proudly brought up the watermelons he had planted early enough to have ripened by July 4th, and we enjoyed eating them and laughed as our granddaddy ate his watermelon and let the seeds slide out the corners of his mouth.
If there was ice left over after two freezers of ice cream and the beverages, Daddy took it to the barn and buried it in the cotton seeds to be dug out and chipped off of to be put in our drinks for the next few days until it was used down to the last sliver.
Peggy Latham Hughes
Weaver
Honoring the flag
The Fourth of July 2011 is uniquely patriotic in our household. Over a half-century ago, twin daughters joined our family. This year the family will celebrate patriotically with a homecoming that honors the twins and the birth date of a flag that every patriot should raise and salute.
Kathryn and John Vanderford
Jacksonville
