Neighbors March for July 4 Freedoms

Myra Quinn, and her husband, Ron Quinn, in the Grayland suburb of Lexington County, and quintessential organizers inspired and moved a spirit toward community upkeep, community loyalty, and community morale...and renewed hope for a renewed hope for our own nation. They were able to galvanize children of all ages, who came with their bicycles and wagons, working wives and husbands, and retired but active grandparents, to celebrate America's Independence Day. It was a great start to a great American Holiday. The stories are remembered from year to year. Traditions are important, for it gives roots to the people and wings to the children to grow with responsibility.

 

The Saturday morning was a grand and glorious, and hospitable gathering. The almost 35 community members which met in the early hours of a hot blistering South Carolina day had much to talk about and much to remember. There was a startling atmosphere of joy. New friends were made,and old friendships were renewed, and iphones and instant cameras recorded it all for posterity.

 

President George Washington (Dr. Albert Jabs) regaled the holiday guests with a variety of stories and anecdotes about his First Administration in the late l780's, and gave his views on how Americans can be more effective in its domestic policies and foreign policy decisions. As loyal citizens, we can agree to disagree and seek lawful redress.

 

President Washington's mother, Mary, was a devout Christian, and while a number of historians insist that the First President at best was a kind of Christian Deist, the evidence of our First President praying at Valley Forge, when Americans were fighting the greatest world power in the world, England, leaves one with the conviction that President Washington was a profound Christian conviction. In a letter to American Indians, President Washington wrote about his belief that Jesus Christ would be good model for all Americans to follow...foreigners or indigenous peoples.

 

At any rate President Washington was asked to give the prayer, by former educators, Myra and Ron Quinn, and our First American President, knowing that our Washington D.C. public square is rife with varied opinions on immigration, same gender marriage, Informational Systems, and important trust and mistrust issues, in prayer, did beseech the Lord of history, Jesus Christ, to give insight to the President, and national policy makers so that fair justice, renewed integrity, and fresh hope can emerge out of the stagnant waters surrounding the Potomac River. In conclusion, President Washington prayed...that all Americans...in the 100 year anniversary of the end of WW I, where l6 million died, and with 20 million wounded, that a merciful Lord would help us achieve a real healing, hope, and health for all those returning vets from our Asian Wars in our own day of 2013.

 

The happy neighborhood throng then moved out to a neighbor march with neighbors and cars cheering them on. With a blistering heat index, and with a cold water bottle in my pocket, like others, we made it to the finish line, and the delectable, ice cold water melon and more conversation. A great day for Grayland Forest, in Lexington County, and a model for South Carolina, and the country at large. We need this coming together at the grass roots level, and Senator Katrina Shealy, has promised to support us in this noble endeavor, by her own legendary example of forming one of the great coalitions of building support for a righteous cause.

 

It was a great preview of other July 4th celebrations, and was an important reminder of just how crucial it is to maintain friendly neighborhood relations in an often times coldly impersonal, media saturation world, where individual welfare and family well being is diminished or lost. The event of this day can be a great harbinger of what other communities can do even on a small scale; the rewards are both immense and lasting...and one really gets to learn the name of a neighbor.

 

Dr. Albert E. Jabs

Lexington, SC