task0778
Diamond Member
What follows is excerpts from a speech by SC Justice Clarence Thomas. I think it offers some truths are where we are as a nation.
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Thomas tells his own story and how his life’s journey led him to understand what America is about. He grew up poor near Savannah, Georgia, raised by his grandparents, under the tutelage of his grandfather, a devout Catholic and American patriot. Thomas’ grandfather understood that the injustices of the country were not about flaws in the country but about flaws in human beings in living up to ideals handed down to them. What needed to be fixed were the people—not the nation.
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But Thomas left his grandfather’s house and went to college in the midst of the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and Thomas became filled with bitterness and the sense that America is an irredeemably flawed, racist nation, which is so much in the spirit of the times today. In his own words, “What had given my life meaning and sense of belonging, that this country was my home, was jettisoned as old-fashioned and antiquated. … It was easy and convenient to fill that void with victimhood. … So much of my time focused intently on our racial differences and grievances, much like today.” “As I matured,” Thomas continued, “I began to see that the theories of my young adulthood were destructive and self-defeating. … I had rejected my country, my birthright as a citizen, and I had nothing to show for it.” “The wholesomeness of my childhood had been replaced with an emptiness, cynicism, and despair. I was faced with the simple fact that there was no greater truth than what my nuns and grandparents had taught me. We are all children of God and rightful heirs to our nation’s legacy of equality. We had to live up to the obligations of the equal citizenship to which we were entitled by birth.”
[Me: I don't think it matters if you are religious or not, or if you are which religion is yours.]
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Despite the strident voices dividing us today, Thomas observes “there are many more of us, I think, who feel America is not so broken, as it is adrift at sea.”
“For whatever it is worth, the Declaration of Independence has weathered every storm for 245 years. It birthed a great nation. It abolished the sin of slavery. … While we have failed the ideals of the declaration time and again, I know of no time when the ideals have failed us.” The Declaration of Independence “establishes a moral ideal that we as citizens are duty-bound to uphold and sustain. We may fall short, but our imperfection does not relieve us of our obligation.”
Thomas’ message about the declaration may be summarized: There are eternal truths; they are true for all of humanity; and it is the personal responsibility of each individual to live up to them.
Thomas’ detractors are those who reject these premises. This defines the culture war that so deeply and dangerously divides America today.
www.dailysignal.com
What needs to be fixed are the people -- not the nation. You are not going to find or develop a better form of gov't than the one we have. Human beings are subject to the vagaries of human nature; sometimes we make bad decisions and do the wrong things for whatever reason. But I do not believe that there is or ever will be a form of gov't that can prevent that from happening. All we can do is try to do better, fix what is broken, and if possible recompense those who were harmed.
.
.
Thomas tells his own story and how his life’s journey led him to understand what America is about. He grew up poor near Savannah, Georgia, raised by his grandparents, under the tutelage of his grandfather, a devout Catholic and American patriot. Thomas’ grandfather understood that the injustices of the country were not about flaws in the country but about flaws in human beings in living up to ideals handed down to them. What needed to be fixed were the people—not the nation.
.
.
But Thomas left his grandfather’s house and went to college in the midst of the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and Thomas became filled with bitterness and the sense that America is an irredeemably flawed, racist nation, which is so much in the spirit of the times today. In his own words, “What had given my life meaning and sense of belonging, that this country was my home, was jettisoned as old-fashioned and antiquated. … It was easy and convenient to fill that void with victimhood. … So much of my time focused intently on our racial differences and grievances, much like today.” “As I matured,” Thomas continued, “I began to see that the theories of my young adulthood were destructive and self-defeating. … I had rejected my country, my birthright as a citizen, and I had nothing to show for it.” “The wholesomeness of my childhood had been replaced with an emptiness, cynicism, and despair. I was faced with the simple fact that there was no greater truth than what my nuns and grandparents had taught me. We are all children of God and rightful heirs to our nation’s legacy of equality. We had to live up to the obligations of the equal citizenship to which we were entitled by birth.”
[Me: I don't think it matters if you are religious or not, or if you are which religion is yours.]
.
.
Despite the strident voices dividing us today, Thomas observes “there are many more of us, I think, who feel America is not so broken, as it is adrift at sea.”
“For whatever it is worth, the Declaration of Independence has weathered every storm for 245 years. It birthed a great nation. It abolished the sin of slavery. … While we have failed the ideals of the declaration time and again, I know of no time when the ideals have failed us.” The Declaration of Independence “establishes a moral ideal that we as citizens are duty-bound to uphold and sustain. We may fall short, but our imperfection does not relieve us of our obligation.”
Thomas’ message about the declaration may be summarized: There are eternal truths; they are true for all of humanity; and it is the personal responsibility of each individual to live up to them.
Thomas’ detractors are those who reject these premises. This defines the culture war that so deeply and dangerously divides America today.
Clarence Thomas' Remarks Reveal America's True Culture War
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke about how the Declaration of Independence helped him return to the Catholic Church.
www.dailysignal.com
What needs to be fixed are the people -- not the nation. You are not going to find or develop a better form of gov't than the one we have. Human beings are subject to the vagaries of human nature; sometimes we make bad decisions and do the wrong things for whatever reason. But I do not believe that there is or ever will be a form of gov't that can prevent that from happening. All we can do is try to do better, fix what is broken, and if possible recompense those who were harmed.
