a couple quotes from lincoln on freedom, another quote from a guy named carlson and a look back {at the grand old flag} through the looking-back glass

"freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

"those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves."

~abraham lincoln

i know it can be a bit cheesy to use quotes with your photos/posts... especially if done too often. but there are lots of good quotes on freedom out there. and i like these first two i found so much, i used them without feeling the need to keep looking for others. below is yet another quote i like {and will shamelessly use}, though not necessarily pertaining to freedom and independence, but still very much applicable.

"people who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have."

~richard carlson

okay... now here's where i get all serious on ya. i've wanted to use that last quote for a while, now... and today seems like the perfect day to break it out. i think that so many of us enjoy freedoms {and blessings} that we never even stop to think about... but if we did, we would realize how much we have to rejoice over and celebrate. even those who have less freedoms than you or i do have caught on to that philosophy... and can live happily and fulfilled because they're always filling their time with gratitude toward their blessings {and freedoms} and not filling their days with cynicism. {it's difficult to imagine that truly grateful rejoicing and cynicism could even live together within a single person... and i'm beginning to think they can't.}

i hope that as a country and as individuals, we won't celebrate today only... but that we keep it going on the 5th and 6th of july, too... and all the days after. it would be silly to be grateful for independence and the freedoms that have come with {or since} gaining it just on this day, only to go back to a cynical view that leaves no room for rejoicing. if we did, we really shouldn't even celebrate today... because that would just be going through the motions and simply doing what the calendar tells us to without conviction.


i don't expect that this post will be read by a great many people. and even it was, i don't think i'm saying anything that several others are not or have not already said. and even if i were, i don't think the simple, whittled down view would wipe out all cynicism. but i write it anyway, because that's what i like to do here... express just how i see things.

and today, i've recycled an old photo of a flag... one that i took a couple years back. i have not been near any flags lately... at least not while carrying my camera. and let's face it... if i were to take another flag picture today, it's not gonna look all that much different from this one. so, i'm looking back through the looking-back glass today for my patriotic image.

this time, though, it's in that looking-back glass shape and i've added some words over the top.

i hope this finds you celebrating your freedom... letting it ring today... and each day afterward.

happy fourth!