Counting Blessings

We are so blessed to live in the United States. I've been reading a book about Siberia right now, and reading the descriptions of the gulags and the people who were sent there just for disagreeing with the Communist party-- or maybe because they were a scientist or intellectual, or perhaps just because they were not Russian. (And Russians were only a portion of the myriad different peoples living in the Soviet Union at the time.) So many millions of people were killed by their own government. Do we appreciate it here? Do we really appreciate it?

Those basic freedoms that our Constitution preserves (and yes, it still preserves them-- there are hiccups but for the most part our system still works) make our relatively comfortable, safe lives possible. We don't have to live in fear that the government will swoop down and cart us off to starve to death in hard labor camps for the crime of merely expressing our opinion. We don't have to fear our children being torn from us and killed because we are a different racial background than those in power. (For all the complaints that we are such a racist country, we don't see genocide happening here, do we?) We don't have to secretly teach our children about God in the dead of night because the government has declared that our beliefs are a blasphemy worthy of death.

I'm so grateful to live in this nation, even with all its faults. I will be forever thankful for those that have served and given their lives in defense of our freedoms. And not just our freedom, but for those around the world who still suffer without these basic protections. I pray that Heavenly Father will continue to bless us and that good, honest people in this country will always prevail, so that our children and grandchildren will still have the rights and freedoms that we do now.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!