"I have a dream ......"
This is maybe one of the most famous statements in American history.
I, too, have a dream. It is the same dream as many in this great Nation we call The United States.
I have a dream that our elected officials will live out the creed and the vision of our Founding Fathers when they penned the words:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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."
They listed some very special qualities they wanted in a Nation. They also listed responsibilities of the Government, including promoting general welfare, providing for the common defense, and securing Liberty.
Securing Liberty is the very thing I am speaking out about today.
Imagine, if you will, a young man or woman kneels before an altar and pledges their life in service to their country to defend the very
freedoms that their ancestors provided. This person is called by their country, sent to a far away land and dies in service to that call.
Those that die, die for something they believe in - US. When I say
they died for US. I am not just saying U.S. as the United States --rather that they served in our stead. In other words, they served so we did not have to. For that we owe them a debt -- one that can be paid quite simply.
But what is the price of human life? I write to you today and tell you the value of one life -- one human soul is without measure.
I drive down the highway and see flowers, markers and signs for the dead. Those dead have died in many different ways. We have memorials for those who lost their lives in schools, in bombings, and other incidents.
Yet in all of the hurt and torment, we still fail to hear the cries of families of some fallen heroes.
In particular, I am referring to fallen heroes who were Pagan Soldiers. These men and women fight with honor, and go bravely in to battle when called. They receive notice their country needs them, yet when simply asked to be laid to rest under a star - their star, their emblem of belief, the Pentacle -- they receive their country's back.
I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day our Government will understand that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s is not just about race, but equality on ALL levels - including religious freedom.
In the words of our Founding Fathers
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of Grievances."
I have a dream that as I look out across the fields of the honored dead and shed a tear, I can look upon a tombstone of a Muslim and ask Allah to bless them. I can look upon a tombstone of a Christian and thank the God of Heaven for their gift. I can look up on the marker of
a Pagan and thank the Lord and Lady they were there.
Yes I have a dream. In the words adapted from famous vision of Dr. King, Jr.:
"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we
allow freedom Ring-when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children-black and white, Christian, Pagan, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics-will be
able to join Hands and sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!""
Because no one is free until we ALL are free.
That is my dream.
So Mote it Be.
Duane "Raven Spirit" Marshall