A Grand Display

Last night, in a spectacular display of suspended legality, Pueblo very closely resembled a city under siege. Vividly embodying the lyrics about "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" as all manner of incendiary ordinance filled the sky. The ground was obscured by remnants and refuse, what remains after the fires have shone bright for their short life. The stars were blotted out by the thick haze of sulfurous dioxides. The shriek and whistle of these pyrotechnic creations is blended with the wail of emergency sirens, dispatched to aid persons in need of assistance and to arrest persons in transgression of the law.

On a night so full of noise and clamor, it is easy to forget that somehow in the midst of it all hides a holiday. A day of remembrance, for the men and women who have fought and sacrificed their very lives to establish and protect this country. From the first weapon drawn against the oppressive government across the ocean (parchment and pen) to the thousands of weapons then called upon to put action to the words of that bold Declaration, on down to the battles in which we are now involved against those who seek to destroy our way of life...

Perhaps in the end, the greatest threat to this great nation may well be its own citizens. Whose selfish and egocentric behavior wants everything catered to their whims, with no thought of the consequences on future generations. Who want the government to do for them what they ought be doing for themselves, to absolve them of personal responsibility and let them live their life without a care in the world. You cannot legislate morality, intelligence, responsibility, or honor. These things used to be taught by parents, who actually raised their children to continue a kind of heritage. A system of belief in something greater than yourself.

A generation has been brainwashed into buying everything that they want now, and paying later or perhaps never. As though ordering a magazine with the free postcard found inside, we have for many years been checking "bill me later", and putting off the cost for our children to pay. And pay they will, for our carelessness and our shortsightedness. To think that everything should just be free, and that money will rain from the skies over Washington, without having to come from somewhere. This philosophy of postponed responsibility: "we'll fix it later, I just don't want to deal with it right now" will soon be our undoing, if indeed it is not already too late.

If as a nation, we no longer consider anything greater than ourselves, we will not continue to be a nation much longer. There will be nothing holding us together, and nothing to defend us from anything.