Authority

It all comes back to the Author.

We're here because He made us.

He gave us each authority, to be submitted to the authority of another.

This July, on the 4th day, we celebrate our nation's insurrection against an authority it believed to have unjust power. Our nation established itself as a free entity, to pass those freedoms on to its citizens.

If, in the course of your celebrations, you choose to knowingly transgress upon the laws of this country (state, city and county are included) what are you really celebrating? Our freedom from tyranny? Or self-justified rebellion?

I have in years past, stood torch-in-hand with a mostly-clear conscience as I set about the "celebration" of our country's Independence Day with "rocket's red glare" and "bombs bursting in air".

Not this year.

I've only just recently repaired some rather extensive damage to my conscience. Patterns of behavior that I taught myself to accept through ignoring my conscience until "the voice of reason" went away completely. I have set those issues right in my life, and am now seeing the same seeds of dissent, the roots of rebellion, in other areas.

I will not, this time, be so easily swayed into discounting my convictions for "a bit of harmless fun". I've made that mistake before. And I know where it leads. Compromise will bring corruption. If I yield my principals even slightly for some small reason, I have surrendered them completely.

I intend to hold tight to what I know and believe, despite what people may say. Whatever arguments they may pose. I've absorbed this truth to a far deeper level than I had before:

The degree to which I obey the authority over me is the degree to which I can be trusted with authority.

If I only "respect" the authority that I agree with, I am pretending to obey while living in practical Anarchy.