God Bless America

I like to record songs in my spare time. Okay, I really don’t have any spare time. What I do is make time to record because I like to sing. Recently, in light of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday (Independence Day for those of you who think the Fourth of July isn’t a holiday), I recorded a few patriotic songs. I did several of them, America The Beautiful, Battle Hymn of The Republic, This Land Is Your Land, and others.

Singing songs about America made me realize again how lucky, or blessed, I am to be an American, living in this great country. Most patriotic songs are full of meaning and even more so when you sing them over and over and them work on the production of the recording. You start to actually pay attention to the words a little more than normal.

One song that I felt had the most meaning was God Bless America. Although for a patriotic song it is very short, it still holds a lot of truth. These days it’s not exactly popular to mention God but, well, I don’t care. Actually no, I do care, which is why I made a video of the song and posted it to YouTube. I’ve also included it below in this post but if it doesn’t play, you can see it here.

And now, I shall return to recording. Maybe a few Christmas songs. I know, it’s kind of the wrong time of year for that but ever heard of Christmas in July? I’ll let you know how it goes in December or so.

Happy Fourth!

Listen to God Bless America by Bruce A. Borders

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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The Cost Of Freedom

Memorial Day. The day America remembers those who have died while serving in the armed forces. Those who died in war. Those who gave their life for freedom. And there have been a LOT—over 1.3 million to date. This includes all wars since the Revolutionary War but that is still a huge amount of people. That is the cost of freedom.

More than 1.3 million lives. And every single one of them had a family. They were someone’s son or daughter. Maybe a husband, a father, or brother; a wife, mother, or sister. An uncle or aunt, niece or nephew. The point is, the loss of these lives reaches even farther that the 1.3 million. A lot farther. The impact has been heartbreaking for many families who lost a love one. That is the cost of freedom.

1.3 million people who never reached their full potential in life. 1.3 million people who never got to pursue their dreams. Never got to watch their children grow up—or see their parents grow old. They never had a chance to experience all the world has to offer. And never had the opportunity to enjoy the freedom they fought for. That is the cost of freedom.

And that’s why we have Memorial Day. A day to remember those who sacrificed, those who gave their all—and then some. But one day doesn’t really come close to being adequate. It seems so insignificant in light of the price that has been paid by so many; especially since so many individuals these days do not appear to care. They take their freedom and life of ease for granted. As for me, I choose to remember the price that is the cost of freedom.

Just something to ponder as you go about your fun-filled holiday; that is, the cost of freedom. ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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Freedom

With Independence Day coming up this week, I thought I’d write a serious blog for a change. Shock! I know.

July 4, 1776, a new nation is born - America! At least that was the official start, though the process began long before that date, hundreds of years, in fact. But, I’m sure everyone is well aware of the history of the United States of America, so that’s not what this blog is about. Instead, it’s about the idea that spawned the birth of this nation. That idea or concept was freedom: religious, as well as political freedom, and a yearning for that freedom. But what exactly does that mean? What is freedom?

Freedom is more than a list of enumerated rights, such as free speech, the right to assembly, the right of a free press, or the right to keep and bear arms. Freedom is more than the ability to choose where we live, where we work, and to lead the life we decide. That’s what I was taught in school, but the meaning of freedom goes much deeper. Those things are a result of freedom, not the definition.

One of the most basic definitions of freedom is the condition that exists when the people are in control. Freedom is when the people tell the government what is allowed, not the other way around. Freedom is when the citizens do not live in fear of what a corrupt government can do. Freedom means not being subjected to a tyrannical and oppressive form of government. It means our lives are not ruled by thousands of regulations aimed at creating criminals out of ordinary citizens.

Freedom also means we have the reasonable expectation that our government will not spy on us, that it will not invade our privacy, and that it will not conduct unwarranted search and seizures. It is the ability to live life unworried. Freedom means the right to be left alone!

In recent years, it seems the American government has lost sight of the meaning freedom. But that doesn’t mean our freedom has gone away. We still have the right to voice our opinion, elect our leaders, to change our leaders or our whole governmental system if necessary. Freedom isn’t free, as the saying goes, but is worth fighting for.

That’s what freedom means to me. No, I’m not a big political figure. I’m not a guy with any influence at all. I’m just a flag-waving, patriotic nephew of my Uncle Sam. And I’m Proud to be an American! Happy Fourth of July! (Independence Day for those of you who are sensitive to that sort of thing).

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books. Over My Dead Body, The Journey, and Miscarriage Of Justice, and other titles, are available as ebooks on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. His books are also available in print at most online retailers or at www.bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com. The popular Wynn Garrett Series Books are now available on Barnes And Noble® at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=867526 See Bruce’s Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders #MiscarriageOfJustice #BruceABorders