“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Those are the words that were set forth on July 4, 1776 as a
declaration of independence from Great Britain and an established set of ideals
for the thirteen British colonies of North America. They were posted everywhere
for the new Americans to see, and they were, in fact, a lofty set of ideals for
humanity to aspire toward. The truth is that we hardly ever come close to those
aspirations, but we must keep trying.
It
is self-evident that from the very beginning we were lacking in attaining these
ideals. The words “all men” is very sexist, but typically now we interpret it
as all humanity. It is also a huge irony that several of the men who signed the
document were slave owners. And we have grappled with those problems from the
inception of that document. “All men” means what? Who are men? Our problem is
the interpretation of the word men. Is men synonymous with humanity? Our sisters
would say yes, yet we have tried for centuries to say it is not, but it is
simply males. Apparently, the originators thought only of white males because
they continued to enslave their black brethren. They also set forth to take
lands from the native Americans because they were brown, often illiterate, and therefore
less than “men.”
And
what about the cognitively impaired? Is someone who can’t verbally communicate
with others anymore exalted than a beast? Should people confined to wheelchairs
really be allowed to enter buildings? Should these degenerate creatures be
allowed to procreate? You may begin to see a pattern here that shows how we
infringe upon the liberty of all men. But we did achieve a milestone thirty
years ago in regard to Americans with disabilities and said yes to the
questions above with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. That’s not
very long ago.
I
think it’s clear that all men will not agree on what liberties or pursuits of
happiness others can engage in. I think it is still a wonderful ideal that we
must continue to grapple with. I think we should evaluate our progress as a
nation every year at this time. I believe we have to engage in the discussion
through legal avenues, through peaceful protests when we believe our ideals are
not being adequately purposed. We must not shut down the conversation, but keep
the dialogue open. I believe that that is our liberty and our pursuit of
happiness. The pursuit of happiness is a journey and it is our unalienable
right. We cannot shut down that pursuit because we might disagree with someone.
We can’t keep saying things like “the Bible says it so that’s the way it is,”
because clearly how one person interprets the Bible can be quite different from
another person. And clearly the Bible isn’t a starting point because not all are
Christian or Jewish. We have to continue on our path of seeking “liberty and justice
for all,” because we believe “all men are created equal.”
For
two hundred and forty-four years we have engaged in this debate. From the inception
of our country we have gradually allowed others into the conversation and only
for one hundred years have we fully included women in this debate. We have
sought to open voices and we have sought to shut them down. We have sought to
hear others voices and other times we have sought to consider them cacophony.
Every single human being has done these things so that we bandy the shuttlecock
back and forth. I am thankful for these ideals. I am not ready to quit pursuing
my happiness and that of my brothers and sisters because I hold these truths,
while complicated, to be self-evident: All are created equal.
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