Our forefathers were, like me, idealists. I think that was the intention behind many of the proverbs and wise sayings handed down to us. They wanted us to live better lives, have more meaningful relationships with our neighbours, friends and family.
Whatever the intentions behind the sayings, they have more than a large measure of truth hidden in them.
"There's more in the mortar..."
"Show me who your friends are..."
"Where there is smoke..."
If you read the US Declaration of Independence, its opening words show us how far-seeing these idealists were.
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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
You may say that those belong to the US and not to Trinidad, but nearly every constitution in the world is similar, being based upon the Magna Carta.
And yet, somehow, these truths are no longer self-evident, the very rights we once could boast of have been eroded to paltry imitations.
Think today what you can to do restore those rights to each and every one of us.
