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Bits and Pieces
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Published: July 4, 2009
Happy birthday, America
The time has come again for Americans to put aside our differences and joyously agree on one thing: This is the greatest country on earth.
Our country's age, 233 years, is but a blink in time in world history, but it's an amazing blink. Since that day in Philadelphia in 1776 when our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, America hasn't always lived up to that document's promise of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," but many have tried hard to do so.
A country that slavery helped build now has its first African-American president, a milestone that was celebrated the world over last November but is now hardly thought about by many Americans. Racism and political differences are far from over. But on its best days, America has a wonderful capacity to put aside its differences and forge on.
The times -- the recession, two wars and other global challenges -- demand nothing less. The coup in Honduras should remind us all of the brilliant strength of American democracy. This year, we've once again witnessed the orderly transition of power after a hard-fought presidential election. So raise a toast to Independence Day, and to our military forces here and overseas. Here are the first and last paragraphs of our Declaration of Independence:
In Congress, July 4, 1776, The unanimous Declaration of the 13 United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. ...
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Reg Garner
It's fitting on July 4 to honor the memory of Ralph "Reg" Garner. Garner, who died last week, led a Winston-Salem company that makes an all-American product in all-American way -- family style.
Garner, the head of the company his uncle started in 1929 that makes Texas Pete Hot Sauce, died at 56 after a long illness. He carried on the tradition of Winston-Salem's "can-do days" when local families excelled in their home-grown businesses and in serving their communities. Garner learned the business from his father. Other family members will carry on his work, and the T.W. Garner Food Co. should be a Twin-City bedrock for years to come.
T.W. Garner makes other products and varieties of Texas Pete, but the best is still the original, with its incomparable mix of vinegar and peppers. It has been lovingly shared at family dinners and community gatherings for generations. In its own way, it's been a community builder.
And so was Garner, who was soft-spoken, kind and generous. When he wasn't at Garner Foods, he was quietly serving his church, Centenary United Methodist, and his community, most notably through Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.
As you enjoy a sprinkle of Texas Pete today or any other day, have a good thought for the memory of Reg Garner, who stood for the best in Winston-Salem's past and future.
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