Declaration

Declaration

Self-evident it is 

that freedom within community 

demands mutual respect 

of one another 

with consent to agree 

to live together, 

accepting of differences, 

allowing each to live 

peacefully among our diversity 

as we are equal with unalienable Rights, 

including Life, Liberty, 

and the pursuit of Happiness; 

as a people that is 

our highest law 

upon which 

in 1776 

we acknowledged 

our consent to a government

representing all of us under 

the Laws of Nature 

and of Nature’s God, 

but not any one person’s God— 

as written so clearly 

all are created equal

with unalienable Rights. 

Those accosting others — 

making them unequal—

based on their personal beliefs 

destroy what bound us 

as a nation 

those many years ago, 

but we continue to pledge 

our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor 

to live the idea of that 

Declaration of Independence, 

of Freedom. 

Sheri Edwards  

07.04.23   186.365.23

Poetry/Photography

About the picture:

This is one of my favorite pictures. It’s created with the app Painteresque from my Fourth of July photo during the Grand Coulee Chamber of Commerce‘s Festival of America. 

#clmooc #smallpoems #declarationofindependence #july4th #julyfourth  #freedom 

The Story

https://sheri42.net/2023/07/04/declaration/

https://flic.kr/p/MqjXy3

From the Declaration of Independence:

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

About the picture:

This is one of my favorite pictures. It’s created with the app Painteresque from my Fourth of July photo during the Grand Coulee Chamber of Commerce‘s Festival of America. We even used it as the cover for a tab in our local newspaper.

The festival, though sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, is implemented each Fourth of July by volunteer community members in the park below Grand Coulee Dam, whose 155 mile long reservoir is known as the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

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Reflect curiosity and wonder --Go boldly and scatter seeds of kindness...