Have a Happy 4th... :)

Myspace 4th of July Comments

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe 4th. I have been sick the last few days with migraine headaches. It was so horrible. :( I am feeling a bit better today. I am still taking it easy. :) so i am not going to write long one but let you know I am still alive and kicking. :) ha... in case you arent coming online. I posted the graphics and hope you will enjoy the 4th. Happy Birthday America!!! :)

Hope you will enjoy reading the Heartwarmers! :)

As always,
Ginger :)



~ Welcome to Heartwarmers ~
http://www.heartwarmers.com
The best thing to happen to mornings since the Sun!

Your morning thought for the day:
Let every nation know, whether it wishes
us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear
any burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the
survival and success of liberty.
-- John F. Kennedy


The flags will be flying this weekend as Americans celebrate
Independence Day, the 4th of July. We hope you have great, and safe,
holiday weekend.
Today, Joe explains the difficulty he had when he was a kid
trying to understand what "unalienable" meant. We can remember
having problems with "indivisible."
The Declaration of Independence may only be words written on a
piece of paper (actually parchment, which is made from sheepskin) but
words have meaning and words are important -- very important. That's
why we can never take them for granted.
Let's all make sure those words are kept alive in each of our hearts.

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
by Joseph Walker

"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..."
I don't know why the moment is frozen in my memory, but it is --
my fourth grade teacher, Miss Greene, is introducing us to The
Declaration of Independence. Maybe it's because she is such a fine
reader, or maybe it's because I have a crush on her, but it feels as
if every phrase shoots directly from her lips to my soul.
Especially that last phrase.
At age 10, I'm really into happiness, so learning that my
headlong pursuit of it is one of my "unalienable Rights"... well,
suddenly I like the Founding Fathers even more than the Yankees.
Not counting Mickey Mantle, of course.
Only one problem. I had no idea what the world "unalienable" means.
"I think it means you can't have it," George said when I asked
him about it during recess.
My heart sank. But then I thought about it. "I don't think
that's right, George" I said. "Why would those guys get excited
about rights they can't have? It doesn't make sense."
So I went to the smartest person I knew, JoAnn.
"Well," she pondered, "I know 'alien' means someone from another
planet, so 'unalienable' must mean something you can't bring in from
outer space."
She seemed to know what she was talking about even though I
couldn't for the life of me figure out what it had to do with
anything. Which is why I decided to summon my courage and ask Miss
Greene (not that she was scary or anything -- it was just... you
know, that crush thing).
"It's a very good question, Joe," she said. "Let's go to the
dictionary to find out."
Holy cow! Why didn't I think of that?
Soon I learned that an "unalienable Right" cannot be
"surrendered or transferred." Now, that was more like it. I had the
right to pursue Happiness, and no one could take it from me.
No one, that is, except Mom.
"Good," she said when I announced my intention to devote the
rest of my life to my "unalienable Right" to pursue happiness. "Now
go clean your room."
Somehow this wasn't working. Where were the days of frivolity,
where breakfast was pie and root beer and "work" was getting up to
change the channel? Where were the 10-speed bicycles? These were
the things I was sure I needed to be happy. And Happiness was my
Right.
I've learned a lot about happiness since then -- sometimes by
getting what I wanted. I had a job where I had to watch TV eight
hours a day and it became a chore. I had a 10-speed and the chain
kept falling off. I had pie and root beer for breakfast once. It
made me sick.
Mostly, I've learned that happiness isn't a possession.
You can't buy it, and no one can give it to you. It's a
feeling, and it usually involves things like family, peace, security,
love and service. It doesn't always come easily, but it is always
worthwhile.
And I think that's what the signers of The Declaration of
Independence had in mind when they affirmed humanity's God-given
right to "the pursuit of Happiness."
They weren't talking about momentary pleasures -- they were
talking about long-term, whole-souled, capital-H-type Happiness. It
isn't something you can touch, but something you feel. It isn't
something you get, but something you are. It isn't a lifestyle, it's
a way of life.
But it IS something you have to pursue. Only the journey won't
take you far and wide -- it will take you deep within yourself. You
may not rack up any frequent flier miles, but you will return with a
much grander bonus -- peace, contentment and Happiness.
After all, it's your "unalienable Right."

-- Joseph Walker

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Joe is a Heartwarmer Gem and a newspaper columnist.
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