Description

Holy Principles Holy Places

To me it was a hallowed and long-anticipated experience to walk about those sites in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where so many of the events occurred that led to the birth of our American Republic. Standing in the Pennsylvania Statehouse where Independence was declared—where our inspired Constitution was drafted and signed, was deeply personal and inspiring.

As I went from place to place visiting those sites so significant to our history and freedom, I was at one and the same time very grateful to all those who have and still do work to keep those memories alive, but I was also a little disappointed. Everywhere I went I saw small signs of neglect. Cigarette butts and litter on the grounds, lawns and landscaping needing attention, peeling paint, and rusting iron work, guides subtly debunking, and people loitering or sleeping on the benches in the Park.

Now some might consider me overly critical, and perhaps I am, but there is a reason for my dismay. Those places represent the origins of our principles—the principles that “all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”—The Declaration of Independence– Other principles such as “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Those words embody holy principles, and holy principles create holy places. When we stop caring about those principles we stop caring about the places where they were born, and if we stop caring about those principles that made us a great and mighty nation we will stop being a great and mighty nation. God forbid! May it be that our effort to perfect those principles is manifested in the beauty and order of those places.

Written May 3, 2022, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania