United States

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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. These are great words penned back in the day when our country was being formed and they are truly beautiful. The thought behind each word conjures up a view that would make any and every man, woman, boy and girl want to be a part of this great nation. That part about forming “a more perfect union” is a great place to pause for some reflection. It’s been over 240 years and I hate to say it but, to put it mildly, we ain’t there yet! In fact, if you notice, it appears that the framers of the constitution recognized that the way to this “more perfect union” started with or by establishing Justice. HMMMMM, now isn’t that interesting considering what we are experiencing as a country these days. In my ever so humble opinion, if the framers had put more attention to this principle, we would not need a ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement today. Did we forget this part of the constitution? How did we overlook this vital clause? While perfection is an impossible feat for us mere humans, striving for it improves the situation in every case. Then, notice that in pursuit of the “more perfect union” they felt it important to “insure domestic Tranquility...” which means 1a : free from agitation of mind or spirit b : free from disturbance or turmoil. The simple definition for the word is “quiet and peaceful”. There is no doubt that this tenet has been missed as there is no quiet and peaceful state (excuse the pun) at the moment. Provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare? Really, where is (in fact, where has) the defence for minorities been both now and in the past, you know, after this document was penned and adopted as the standard for freedom? Next, they write, “and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,”. So, the framers realized that ‘Liberty’ is a blessing that needs securing, however, the actions that have led to uneven numbers who have had theirs taken seems a bit hypocritical to me. After all, you do know that the term ‘Posterity’ means future generations, right? How did we miss this? This document upon which we have built a nation, seems a tad weak, would you say? This nation, called the United States of America, is a great nation! I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world, but United, we ain’t! (I know that’s bad English but I wanted to make the point. When I looked the word ‘united’ up I found this definition “involving people or groups working together to achieve something : made up of members who share the same purpose, interest, etc. This is the simple definition per the Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary. Their full definition shows: 1: made one : combined 2: relating to or produced by joint action _a united effort_ 3: being in agreement. As I consider both these definitions, it is evident that we, as a country are disjointed as it relates to race. Are now and have been from the beginning. Strides have been made at different times but what is interesting about that is that these “strides” have gone in both directions at different times. Anyone with any observation skills probably saw strides backwards eight years ago when our great nation did something ‘Great’ by electing our first Black president. Race relations should have been vastly improved at that point but because folks forgot that our goal was, and should still be, to form a more perfect union... we marched backwards. As I draw to a close for this edition of PRACTICAL A’SERTION, a thought came to mind. There have been times when we were ‘united’. I think back on that fateful day in September 11, 2001. So many of our fellow citizens lost their lives when terrorists carried out a cowardly act. WE came together that day! We were together that day. What I find very interesting about the statistics is that during the time following the attack, there was no talk about how many whites lost their lives and how many blacks theirs. There is data now that show these numbers, but my point is, on that day it wasn’t a black, white, brown, yellow issue, it was an American issue, because all lives matter. Are we only the United States of America when attacked by outsiders? What can you do to help “form a more perfect union”? We all have a part in this objective! What are you going to do? Let me hear from you? Share this with everyone you know and we’ll look forward to seeing you next week for another edition of PRACTICAL A’SERTION!

• published: 15 Jul 2016
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