The Undiscovered Country

Passionate Driving and A Reason for Pride

When "So You Think You Can Dance?" first came out I avoided it. One more reality show where people sign up to get their fifteen minutes of fame, do we really need it?

I try not to miss an episode now, especially after the top 20 were picked. What drives these dancers, how did they make it to the top?

Technique is part of it, as is the ability and willingness to learn multiple dancing genres. The judges, however, place passion at the top of the list.

Passion is what made the dancers the top in the nation, it's what drives their willingness to learn from multiple choreographers, and listen intently to the advice of the judges.

I've allowed my passion to flounder of late. Many a subject scream to be written here, but I reign them in and they lose their voice, never to be heard.

How sad is that?

If that continues, then my passion will leave me. Like a loyal pet, if it's not fed, it will find another owner who will feed it.

Time to feed my passions.

This morning Dave, Thomas and I went to the city's Independence Day parade. Thomas spent most of the time flirting with the women, young and old, and running after people who brought along their dogs.

My favorite part of the parade was the National Guard. It wasn't the big truck with the boat on the trailer, or even the articulated guns swiveling about on its base in every direction imaginable (I want one of those). What struck me is how every single person stood, clapped and screamed out "Thank you" and "We love you!"

Thomas Jefferson once said: "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

My thanks go to every member of our 100% volunteer armed forces who are willing to feed the tree of liberty with their blood and bones. My thanks to those who take every opportunity to show their gratitude.

As for the rest of Jefferson's warning, I need not say more.

Let us never forget the importance of our liberties and freedoms, on this day and all others.