Remember, Lest Ye Forget

In Deuteronomy 32:7, we find these words of Moses: "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you." We would do we to consider these words, and the advice and admonition contained within, for the days are speeding by, and the memory of our American heritage is fading into the annals of history with each passing generation. A false conclusion? Perhaps, but it is difficult to ignore the ongoing transformation of people from free citizens back to subjects of the state. I can only wonder if the angst so many of us feel about the state of our Union is actually comparable to those early Americans who were torn about the deterioration of the colonies' relationship to Britain, and the eventual break for their identity as Englishmen.

Have we willingly forgotten or foresaken our roots as a nation? Is it by intention that we fail to educate? Is it neglect, or perhaps the sad consequence of the breakdown of a society no longer built around the construct of the family? What have we become, that so many remain sedated and numbed by the siren song of the collective?

In an interesting post on the importance of heritage, I found this passage particularly interesting, especially extrapolated beyond just the personal (emphasis mine):

Heritage is an inheritance better than money or property. Unlike money or other property, heritage cannot be stolen or taken from you as long as you are alive. It can only be lost or forgotten by a choice that you make. This would be the choice of neglect and disuse. What value is an instruction manual to a complex machine if it is left in packing material and thrown away – none! But when we read that manual, encapsulate that knowledge into our mind, and use it – then there is great value.

We have a world today that has destroyed much of its heritage through war or through neglect. Our mobile society and fast pace world, with the immense prosperity we enjoy, has caused us to forget much of our heritage. We have used our time in meaningless pursuits. We have relegated our family history books, and our nation’s history books, to the corners of our library. We have watered down, or forgotten altogether, our traditions. We have sequestered the older generation to retirement communities and nursing facilities, and as they grow old and die – so does our heritage. Because more often than not, that generation failed to pass it on, while the next fails to retrieve it from them.

It may be too late to turn aside from our present course, but it is not too late to reawaken the sleeping giant that is the quintessential American psyche. A friend of mine has often said, the deceived do not know they are deceived because they are deceived. Until that cycle of deception is broken, until we see clearly the progression that is happening around us and recognize its ramifications, the calls for a resuscitation of liberty will fall on deaf ears.

Until then, Remember. Rediscover. Redeem. And Reclaim. For it is those of us who remember, rediscover, redeem and reclaim our American heritage that carry the torch of liberty for this generation, and our solemn vow to pass it on to the next. It is up to us.