Everyone that I talk to today agrees that we Americans are going through troubling times. Each of us has a differing list of debatable issues confronting our daily lives, but due to the recent tragic incident in Tucson the subject of political debate is front and center with a growing number of citizens.
Considering that fact, I was impressed when I read some very appropriate language uttered by John Hancock that dates back to the founding days of the United States of America. I did not know that Hancock was one of the richest men in America when our country was founded, and that he had a huge price placed on his head by the British government. It is reported that he was the first to boldly sign the Declaration of Independence and then said, “There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the reward on my head.”
Let me further quote some insightful words that Hancock rendered in association with that signing, which appeared in the American Patriot‘s Almanac.
“John Hancock marveled that the Lord gave this country ‘a name and a standing among the nations of the world.’ He wrote: ‘I hope and pray that the gratitude of (Americans’) hearts may be expressed by a proper use of those inestimable blessings, by the greatest exertions of and for the greatest progress of the arts and sciences, by establishing laws for the support of piety, religion and morality…and by exhibiting in the great theatre of the world, those social, public and private virtues which give more dignity to a people, possessing their own sovereignty, than crowns and diadems afford to sovereign princes.’”
Your Commander finds Hancock’s words to be just as applicable today as they were back in those founding days of our country. With all the bellicose language floating around our lives today, I believe Hancock’s foresight can lead us on a logical steady course in addressing our many and varied concerns.
COMMANDER GRANGER
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