I wasn't planning to write anything today – holiday and all, plus I wrote a column earlier on Beazer Homes – but my farmer friend Maria Fisher of Fisher Farms (the BEST tomatoes at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market) wrote a sparkling and moving essay about freedom and honor and stewardship of the land that is worth sharing. Happy Independence Day to all:
On the forth the blackberries are ripe, the tomatoes start to come in and for a day we go to the local fair and spend more money than I want to on short rides and sickening food.
September 12th, 2001 I went to the local t-shirt place and begged them for a flag - they were sold out and did not want to give me the one they had promised to someone else. I cried. I had lost a client in the Pentagon and was so sad that I had not taken time before to honor our country and that I had never said a proper thank you to a servicemen. They sold me the flag.
When I was teaching I had it hanging in my classroom. It is a HUGE flag. I have no place to hang it on my house - I have a little house. I will probably give it to my neighbor - she has a pole to hang it on. I will like to look at it while I am harvesting tomatoes.
We are funny about our country - no one is going to tell us what to do - we have to figure it out, figure it out, figure it out again. We have the right to PURSUE happiness - obviously, it is trite to remind anyone that we are not ENTITLED to it. We have an amazing government that most of us completely neglect at the local level and when things get out of hand - we still have the right to try to correct it and figure it out once again.
I heard the son of a farmer from another country tell me in person about their large production and how after 20 years of large production, crops went down. There was no cure and now today - there are not even birds and the land is used up. He was in his fifties when he told me this. Silent springs for the last 15 years. We as farmers, as caretakers of the land, working as much as anyone else, trying to "make it" - still need to be mindful that for all the freedom we are granted to pursue our happiness, that we are not entitled to it and that the land requires good care regardless and foremost before all else. If we as a nation continue to devalue each other and are left devaluing others - care of the land will most likely fall to the wayside and we will create silent springs. Bottom line.
Pursue wisely. Value now. Remember to THINK. OK - no more soap box - go find some fair and try not to eat too much. Happy Independence Day.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
A farmer considers freedom
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7 comments:
TAXATION IS THEFT!!!HAPPY 4TH OF JULY.
Thank you greatly, Mary, for posting Maria Fisher’s fine essay.
It’s a pleasure to see some grassroots Americans expressing their own thoughts in their own words - and in writing - instead e-forwarding by proxy someone else’s creation, or tweeting a mindless slogan they copied from someone else.
Maybe there is hope for America in this age of degeneration and decadence.
Anon 9:54 I doubt it. All you have to do is look at out political leaders and realize we are screwed.
Are you going to write an article about the TEA PARTY? There were at least 2,000 plus people that attending the event. I don't see one article mentioning this event.
The big news is that 685,456 of us weren't at the Tea Party.
Enough is enough...LOWER ALL TAXES....
Taxes are the price of freedom. You don't get something for nothing. No Taxes = No police, no fire fighters, no roads, no teachers, few doctors (and only for the rich) no Army, No Navy, no Marines.
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