DREAM 8/18/02: What does it mean to you?

I am with a group of people in a southern state, probably one of the meeting rooms in the Charlottesville, Virginia library, with my son. I listen as they discuss various topics in a moderated way, one person at a time taking the floor.  One person after another gets up, extolling the beauty of their place, the preeminence of their state, that indeed everything is quite perfect. It is an open format, a practice at spontaneous oratory. I am moved by their responses to rise and ask to speak as well.

            “I believe that much of the strife within this country can be traced to our inability to resolve the issues that created the Civil War.”

             This opening statement is met with hisses and groans, and half the members present get up and move en masse to an adjoining room connected by a large opening, before which I stand. This causes me to falter for a moment, but then moves me to such fury I am barely able to speak, but then do so forcefully. 

            “Our Declaration of Independence set forth the intended course  for this nation clearly; “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all humans being are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights…” but do we know what this means?  If you were given a car by our parents, it does not mean that you know how to drive it. They may have toiled long ours to acquire it but that does not mean you have earned it. Your father may or mother may have studied and practiced their study to understand the ins and outs of its operation and become master mechanics, but that does not mean you know how to fix it if it is broken. Each generation must master anew the significance of the words, “self-evident truths. Inalienable rights."

            “Unfortunately, our system is such that each generation can pass on to the next the fruits of their labors, creating a sense of entitlement without the accompanying wisdom necessary to steward those resources for the betterment of humanity. From the beginning there has been a dark side to our nation’s creation. This expression in its inception did not encompass the rights of women, the cruelties of slavery, or the obvious injustice of the ethnic cleansing of the native population of their land and resources. We were after all a colonial  extension of  European imperial expanse, and while justifying our course toward freedom our values were not that far removed.

            “We set into motion a new stage in the fulfillment of human destiny, however. Now it is incumbent on us to recognize our position. In order to fulfill our dream we must awaken. The clinging shadows of our inception must be exposed, inequalities addressed. We behave in a manner unbecoming to our professed beliefs. Like a high school kid who looks down on his comrades, proud in his possession of his first car, until it breaks down and he lacks the knowledge or income to fix it, so we squander our heritage and the goodwill of our neighbors. We practice one set of values for the citizens of this country, another for those of other countries; one set for white male citizens, another for people of color and women; one set of justice for the well-heeled, another for those without means; one measure of acceptance for those of Christian faiths, another for other faiths, one set for heterosexuals, another for those of other persuasions.

            “If we are to understand the meaning behind the words ‘self-evident truths’ and ‘inalienable rights,’ we must awaken from the American dream and recognize that these values are not unique to citizens of our nation. Their transcendence arises from their power to accurately describe the human condition, the promise in the hearts’ of all human beings.

            “That it fails to exist in the world around us is our failure, because we act in denial of the principles we ourselves demand. This is not in our long-term self- interest, nor that of humanity, nor of the Earth, as we know it. We are we intent on descending into a self-destructive malaise of greed and violence. We must wake up, grow up, and act like the human beings we profess ourselves to be.             “This has been the doctrine of our greatest statesmen, and those individuals throughout history who have sought to awaken these same values in our hearts. Shall the efforts of these brave souls be wasted on those who will not follow? Who will follow? We have allowed ourselves to be lulled into the pursuit of greed by greedy leaders. We’ve failed until now to recognize the preciousness of that which they have stolen from us. To follow them means certain destruction, not a path to continual prosperity which they promise, but which resolves to but a diminishing few.

“What does it mean, “We hold these truths to be self evident: That all beings are created equal …”

“What does it mean to you?"