Justified by ignorance? I think not...

First off, Happy 4th of July to all the Americans out there. Celebrate our independence by blowing a piece of the country up! I already had my night with the saturn missiles and the glorious scramble away from them to save my life!! :)
Celebrations and explosions aside... We celebrate our freedom on this day but not many know what that freedom is, what it costs, or what limits it has. People post 'God bless America' and 'Support our troops' wherever there's enough space on their lawns or cars. Why? I spent some time in Little Bighorn this summer. I had seen the place 10 years ago but it took this second time to ask myself why was I supposed to honor the men that fell there. Why was I supposed to honor Custer? History lesson short...He fought against native Americans that were fighting, literally fighting for their freedom. I'm not making connections to the 'insurgency' in Iraq or other parts of the world that the US happens to be in. I'm trying to provoke the questions that need to be asked. The answers will bring you more enlightenment than you can imagine.

I sat at the picnic table this afternoon with my family and fiance. I was just about to bite into the first hot dog on my plate when my niece rang out a racial slur. If you didn't know from previous posts (and it doesn't really matter because the color of your skin doesn't justify any slur) my fiance is half African-American and basically half Irish* . I can't tell you how many times I used to say things in ignorance. It took my fiance, literally slapping me in the face, to understand the meaning of my words and the hate those words contained. I was ignorant and in ignorance I said those things. That, however, is no justification and in this world we quickly find that ignorance is not a valid excuse.

I'm tired. Tired of people not paying attention to the world around them. Tired of people rambling off their mouths when all that comes out is shit. We as Americans are ignorant. We as people of this God forsaken world are ignorant. We contain and limit ourselves within set morals and ethics...even vote based off these and then pay no heed or mind when our governments go against them IE: we vote for pro life or pro choice when our government kills hundreds of thousands of innocent people half way across the world in the name of American freedom. We say we value freedom but when that freedom is expressed we're quick to take it away and for the sake of our 'safety' we'll give whatever freedom there is as payment. What does that say about our untouchably hollowed morals and our view of freedom? We'll look at our blood soaked hands one day and understand...Ignorance is not justifiable and it certainly won't get us out of the jail cell of our own making. Celebrate your freedom while you have it.

Feenix