Monday, December 11, 2006

In God We Trust

Not much of a Christian testimony, but then again, we practice freedom of speech, don't we?

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From the 7th issue of asia! (2006). Written by its Editor, Lee Han Shih. Titled “
In God We Trust”

“We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

These words were penned by Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1776. But 230 years later, under George W. Bush, thse unalienable truths are totally subverted. Witness the wrongful arrest of Chinese American scientist Wen-Ho Lee, the imprisonment without trial of hundreds in Guantanamo Bay, the shabby treatment of people of Middle East origin, the invasion of Iraq on false pretenses, the anger aroused in the Islamic world, the powerful influence of the GOD lobby (Guns, Oil and Drugs) on Capitol Hill, the protests of top military officials against Bush’s war machine and its two chief proponents, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice. The legacy of George W. Bush will live on.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

As Asians ponder the implications of America’s 230th Independence Day on July 4, 2006, they should also remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was gunned down five years later. 33 years after his speech, his dream of a nation that does not judge its people by the colour of their skin remain as distant and unfulfilled as the day he mouthed it. This is Bush’s legacy.

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