The Day After, July 5th, 2010

I am an idealist. That was the term I used back in the 1960’s--and still would use-- when my teachers asked their students to take a philosophical stand and then defend it. I believe there are such things as absolute truths and moral imperatives. I believe there is a plan of happiness in the universe and ideals we should try to attain. The older I get the more I am sure of it.

I do not believe that empiricism or pragmatism or rationalism or socialism or any other man-made ‘ism’ ever will get us very far on the path of right purpose or discovery of the great ideals. Therefore I do not limit the tools in my intellectual toolbox to those politically-acceptable, socially-popular, God-denying approaches to finding the great truths or living a morally acceptable life before my peers or my God.

I believe in revelation, in intuition, in conscience, in sudden bursts of insight. And I believe that they are the ‘power tools’ to help us in our quest for the good, the right, the ideal, the pursuit of things of lasting value and of virtue.

So, let me briefly explain why I believe ‘The day after’ is a worthy subject for a posting.

Today is the day after Independence Day in the United States of America. I believe there are many people in this ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ who hold with me that freedom under law and being brave in the face of threats to our lives, our liberties or our sacred honor are values we should hold dear and strive to defend. We behaved like we believed it yesterday as we sang our great national anthems, listened to patriotic speeches, enjoyed the American flags and buntings, and were awed by the ‘rockets red glare’ where our communities didn’t have ordinances against our celebrations. The question is, will we behave like we believe it tomorrow and next week and next month?

I therefore extend this challenge made on the 5th of July to the day after Hanukah, or the day after Christmas and Easter, the day after Thanksgiving and Memorial Day, the day or week or month after any of our significant days of appreciation and remembrance: I challenge you to retain the kindled feelings of appreciation, of renewed determination, and of hope engendered, and live your life in pursuit of the noble ideals that these dates signify.

It may be a reordering thought to have these signal days last more than 24 hours. If so, then let’s do a reordering.