“Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” – Ronald Reagan
This quote is one of my very favorites. Freedom isn’t included in our DNA. As President Reagan said, we have to fight for it, protect it, and hand it on to our posterity if we want it to survive. Sadly, society tends to forget freedom, forget God, and forget the brave men and women who lived before us. This sometimes is called the pride cycle. (See Daniel Chapter 4 in the Old Testament as an example)
In order to overcome this natural tendency to the pride cycle we need to watch continually. If we look down or get distracted, the enemy can slip in without us even noticing. Most everybody has heard the analogy of the frog and the pot of hot water. If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately recognize the danger and jump out. However, if you put the frog in a pot of cold water and slowly heat it up, it won’t notice the small, steady change in temperature. Instead of jumping out, it will usually sit there until it dies.
Just like the water that slowly increases in tempurature, there are those who slowly take away our rights in ways that we don’t even notice until it’s too late. The water is now very hot–approaching 212℉. And it’s getting warmer every day. Will we stay in the pot? Hopefully not. Hopefully we will recognize the coming danger and jump out before it’s too late. I remain optimistic, but if we don’t jump soon, then “one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
