REFLECTIONS ON "INDEPENDENCE"
Though we just celebrated our nation's 238th Independence Day in this month of July, our nation might be "independent" from the "Old World" but is still enslaved by overwhelming issues. The Chicago Tribune in one edition called this month's events, "The Crises (plural) of July 2014"! In that same edition, the newspaper reported that during the weekend of July 4 alone 80 people were shot or murdered in Chicago. That same edition also reported that the Freedom from Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin, announced giving the "Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award" to the person who gives the best secular invocation not referring to a Supreme Being but to human values alone.
If we would ever wonder what is the real reason for the rapid decline and weakening of America, herein lies the deep-seated root of our problems! Some 40 years ago, our WFWP founders came to this country to ring the warning bell on this very point, urging America to invite God back into our homes, schools and all institutions, making God and godly principles their point of reference in all their decision-making. In the speech "America Is God's Hope," delivered at Yankee Stadium in 1976, they clearly stated that only when that happens will we find solutions to our problems!
What does this have to do with WFWP? I believe everything!
It is especially women and mothers of conscience and faith who are needed at this time to assist in redirecting our nation to its original founding principles. Mothers, let us pray for and with our families, husbands and children, and our communities and re-instill those principles in them, especially in the next generation. Let us instill in them once again the urge to live by the "Golden Rule," being kind, respectful, responsible, modest, considerate of others-and most of all being accountable to the One Supreme Being, our Creator, who has so blessed America.
Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, said it so well: "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." He also wrote, "Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." Such thoughts have been the pillars of America for the past two hundred and more years, though they've been corroding for the past five decades.
At the most recent God's Hope for America banquet here in Washington, D.C., one of the speakers, Mrs. Dottie Chicquelo, of Native and African-American descent remarked, "We have a lot of work to do."
WFWP USA, as a nonpolitical and nonpartisan, international, and interreligious organization, is committing ourselves now more than ever to putting our founders' vision and message into action. (Please read, "The Hope of Humanity Comes from Mothers," at www.wfwp.us/founders-words.) Their message was prophetic at the time and today can serve as a guideline to resolve our social ills and thus bring about true independence.
You can make a difference wherever you are-saying a good word, lending a helping hand, a smile of encouragement to your husband and children, and more-as you follow the prompting of your heart. It will make your summer the more meaningful and help our country to once again rise to its original founding.
Please enjoy the articles in this issue!
With love,
Angelika