Forums / Off Topic / A VISITOR FROM THE PAST

by Thelen Paulk

I had a dream the other night that, well, I didn't understand. A figure walked in through the mist with flintlock in his hand. His clothes were torn and dirty as he stood there by my bed. He took off his three-cornered hat, and speaking low to me, he said: ''We fought a revolution to secure our liberty. We wrote the Constitution as a shield from tyranny. For future generations this legacy we gave, in this, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. The freedoms we secured for you, we hoped you'd always keep. But tyrants labored endlessly, while your parents were asleep. Your freedoms gone, your courage lost, you're no more than a slave, in this, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. You buy permits to travel and permits to own a gun, permits to start a business or to build a place for one. On land that you believe you own, you pay a yearly rent, although you have no voice in saying how the money's spent. Your children must attend a school that doesn't educate. And your Christian values can't be taught according to the state. You read about the current news in a regulated press. And you pay a tax you do not owe to please the I.R.S. Your money is no longer made of silver nor of gold. You trade your wealth for paper, so your life can be controlled. You pay for crimes that make our nation turn from God in shame. You've taken Satan's number, you've traded in your name. You've given government control to those who'd do you harm, so they can burn down churches and seize the family farm, and keep our country deep in debt, put men of God in jail, harass your fellow countrymen while corrupted courts prevail. Your public servants don't uphold the solemn oaths they've sworn. And your daughters visit doctors so their children won't be born. Your leaders send artillery and guns to foreign shores and send your sons to slaughter fighting other people's wars. Can you regain the freedoms for which we fought and died? Or don't you have the courage or the faith to stand with pride? And are there no more values for which you'll fight to save? Or do you wish your children to live in fear and be a slave? O Sons of the Republic, arise, take a stand! Defend the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land! Preserve our Great Republic and each God-given right. And pray to God to keep the torch of freedom burning bright!'' As I awoke, he vanished in the mist from whence he came. His words were true, we are not free, but we have ourselves to blame. For even now as tyrants trample each God-given right, we only watch and tremble, too afraid to stand and fight. If he stood by your bedside in a dream while you're asleep and wondered what remains of the freedoms he fought to keep. What would be your answer if he called out from the grave, ''Is this still the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?'' God bless you. And God bless this Republic.