My Birthday Wish

Today is my birthday and I have to let go of the fantasy that I am not middle-aged.  It is an adjustment for me.  I have been pretty militant about keeping my birthday completely separate from Christmas for obvious reasons.  Be honest, how many times in your life have you gotten a "Happy Birthday to the Christmas Baby" card?  I have gotten many.  The gifts are not the issue, but it is the fact that allows people to put little effort into the day. I have to admit my mom was very good about it when I was little.  She had my birthday celebration earlier in the month and I had everything that anyone else had on their birthdays that happened not to fall on or near a major holiday.  That all changed about when I was 14 or so.  There was a time that my birthday cake was actually Christmas Day dessert.  Yeah, I had to wait two days to get cake.  I hated it.

But, you grow up and realize it is not that big of deal and you don't care as much anymore.  That has been true with the noted exception of a really horrible situation that occurred during a year that myself and four or five of my friends turned thirty.  But I got over that too.  Sort of.

Every year at my church we "adopt" ten needy families.  We make sure that they have everything that need to celebrate the holiday season.  Thanksgiving is at my church and it included a full meal and they always go home with leftovers to last a few more days.

Christmas is a little different that most people would like to spend it with their loved ones, so somehow December 23 got designated as the day that we spend giving the families all the fixings for their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations.  A full meal, a tree with all the trimmings, warm clothes and boots for the upcoming winter weather, and of course we make sure every child has some sort of toy.  It may not seem like all that much, but it really does take a great deal of coordination to pull this off.  We try to arrange it so the kids are not at home when we come, not always possible, but that is our hope, to give them a real surprise.

The first few years or so I got involved in this project there was a little part of me that resented that was how I spent my birthday.  I then realized how selfish that was and I got over it.  I have come to really look forward to this day and always feel good knowing that these families are going to have a better Christmas than they would without our efforts.

This year, I wanted our church to help out Homeless and Conservative and brought it up several times at the meetings that I attended.  But, the project is geared to families with children and since she has no children they decided it was not a good use of the limited funds we have to make this possible every year.

I have done what I can to help her, and I am happy to report that she is getting closer to getting back on her feet.  She really should have only a short time left of being without a home.

So my birthday wish is that you take a few moments to help someone in need.  Money is tight all around, and you may not be able to give in a financial way, but if you happen to have a few extra can goods in your pantry, drop them off at a local food bank or shelter.  It is too late for Toys for Tots, but maybe you know a neighbor that has difficulty giving something to their children this year due to tight or non-existent funds, drop something off on their doorstep for Christmas morning.  (Or as in my case the traditional Scandinavian Christmas Eve celebration).

If even that is not possible take a moment to go over to visit Homeless and Conservative's blog and give her a Christmas greeting.  She will be spending Christmas Eve with me and mine having a traditional Scandinavian Christmas Eve, lutefisk and all.  But she could still use some holiday cheer to make her weekend a little brighter.  She has stayed mostly positive during this experience, but I know she is missing her Aunt who she is unable to go and visit due to both money and work related issues.

I hope everyone one of my regular readers has a memorable, safe, and very Blessed Christmas..  

A Special Day

Happy Birthday to my BFF

I didn't have the time to write a new one this year, so you are getting a hand-me-down from last year. But, the sentiment remains the same. I also want to say how much the strength you have shown during my illness means to me. Thank you. You are inching closer to the "Big One". Oh, my.

Another birthday has rolled around, and on this auspicious occasion I want to take the opportunity to not just say Happy Birthday, but also say thanks. I know that I didn't make the best of impressions that first morning that we met, but you didn't hold that against me.






You and I have shared a great deal over the years, and not all of it has been good. We have matured and watched either change and grow. You have taught me a great deal about patience; not one of my virtues, but it is one of yours.






You stood by me when I still trying to figure out how to rid myself of the demons and come to the realization that I deserved to be happy. You also helped me see that I could accept love into my life. Not an easy task!!!






You told me once that I have more passion in my pinkie than you did in your entire body. We never really talked about it after that, but it simply isn't true. I am just more in your face about it than you. Yours is just more quiet than mine. The proof of that is the relationship that you have with your children. They adore you. There are far too many people in the world that think the parentage has just to do with biology, and you are proof that is not true. I always doubted that, and because of you, I see that isn't true.






You know me so well. All of those oddities that I have that just make you laugh most of the time, like when I become fixated on one piece of dirt regardless of what else is around. You just make jokes about it and move on. You have put up with the tears too, even when they have been over the top, totally unneccessary and more than a tad messy.






You just shake your head when I have one too many comsopolitians and suddenly remember that I like to dance, even when sometimes the only music is in my head. I was thinking about the night I was twirling around in my favorite polka dotted skirt to the song American Pie. How you don't lose your patience is amazing to me.






You put with my passion for midnight swims, my nicotine addiction that drives you crazy, and all this political stuff that I have become almost obessed with since Obama won the nomination, you just take all in stride. Why do you put up with all this? Because you love me!!!






I just want to say how much I admire and respect you, and how grateful I am to have you in my life.






So, before the summer comes to end we need to go out for some veranda dining, we will crack open a good bottle of Malbec and just enjoy each other's company. We can go to Joe's and you can get your usual amusement while I eat one of my favorite desserts, peanut butter pie. I promise, it will be a political free (well, ok, almost) evening.






Happy Birthday to you, my best friend!!






I love you -






This is for you:

The Best Birthday Present Evah

Happy Birthday to Me

One of my best birthdays was spent in Disney World.  I took my nephew for Christmas and we celebrated both my birthday and Christmas.  A very good memory.

Happy Birthday to my BFF

Another birthday has rolled around, and on this auspicious occasion I want to take the opportunity to not just say Happy Birthday, but also say thanks.  I know that I didn't make the best of impressions that first morning that we met, but you didn't hold that against me. 

You and I have shared a great deal over the years, and not all of it has been good.  We have matured and watched either change and grow.  You have taught me a great deal about patience; not one of my virtues, but it is one of yours. 

You stood by me when I still trying to figure out how to rid myself of the demons and come to the realization that I deserved to be happy.  You also helped me see that I could accept love into my life.  Not an easy task!!! 

You told me once that I have more passion in my pinkie than you did in your entire body.  We never really talked about it after that, but it simply isn't true.  I am just more in your face about it than you.  Yours is just more quite than mine.  The proof of that is the relationship that you have with your children.  They adore you.  There are far too many people in the world that think the parentage has just to do with biology, and you are proof that is not true.  I always doubted that, and because of you, I see that isn't true. 

You know me so well.  All of those oddities that I have that just make you laugh most of the time, like when I become fixated on one piece of dirt regardless of what else is around.  You just make jokes about it and move on.  You have put up with the tears too, even when they have been over the top, totally unneccessary and more than a tad messy. 

You just shake your head when I have one too many comsopolitians and suddenly remember that I like to dance, even when sometimes the only music is in my head.  I was thinking about the night I was twirling around in my favorite polka dotted skirt to the song American Pie.  How you don't lose your patience is amazing to me. 

You put with my passion for midnight swims, my nicotine addiction that drives you crazy, and all this political stuff that I have become almost obessed with since Obama won the nomination, you just take all in stride.  Why do you put up with all this?  Because you love me!!!

I just want to say how much I admire and respect you, and how grateful I am to have you in my life. 

So, before the summer comes to end we need to go out for some veranda dining, we will crack open a good bottle of Malbec and just enjoy each other's company.  We can go to Joe's and you can get your usual amusement while I eat one of my favorite desserts, peanut butter pie.  I promise, it will be a political free (well, ok, almost) evening. 

Happy Birthday to you, my best friend!!

I love you -


This is for you:

Peace, love and kisses from your favorite conservative girl!!

Happy Birthday Mr. President

They have a bunch a different ones to choose from, I just thought this was pretty funny. 

Thinking of a Friend

I have been thinking of my best friend while I was growing up lately.  She left this world far too young and her birthday would have been later this month.  This song is something that we played over and over again while hanging out back in CT.  It used to make me sad to hear this song, but now it always make me smile.  I hope that it does the same for you.

Happy Birthday Diane........We miss you.

Happy Birthday, President Reagan

We could use your optimism now..........

Inaugural Address



January 20, 1981


Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens:




To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.


Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.


The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.


Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.


But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.


You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.


The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.


In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.


We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick -- professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, ``We the people,'' this breed called Americans.


Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this ``new beginning,'' and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world.


So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.


It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.


Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.


If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.


It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.


We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.


Now, I have used the words ``they'' and ``their'' in speaking of these heroes. I could say ``you'' and ``your,'' because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak -- you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.


We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen; and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they're sick, and provide opportunity to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?


Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic ``yes.'' To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.


In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow, measured in inches and feet, not miles, but we will progress. It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.


On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of . . . . On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."


Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children. And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.


To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.


As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.


Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.


Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.


I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.


This is the first time in our history that this ceremony has been held, as you've been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.


Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man, George Washington, father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence. And then, beyond the Reflecting Pool, the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.


Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.


Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.


Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.


We're told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, ``My Pledge,'' he had written these words: ``America must win this war. Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.''


The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.


And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.






God bless you, and thank you.

Happy 81st Birthday Dr. King - I Have A Dream

We still have a ways to go, but we have made progress in judging people by the content of character.  Every time I read this speech, I get goosebumps thinking about how much he sacrificed to make our world a better place.  I also wonder what he would think of where we are today. 

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.



Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.


But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.


In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."


But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.


We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.


It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.


But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.


The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.


We cannot walk alone.


And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.


We cannot turn back.


There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹


I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.


Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.


And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.


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 one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.


I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.


I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.


I have a dream today!


I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.


I have a dream today!


I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2


This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.


With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.


And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:


My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.


Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,


From every mountainside, let freedom ring!


And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.


And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.


Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.


Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.


Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.


Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.


But not only that:


Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.


Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.


Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.


From every mountainside, let freedom ring.


And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:


Free at last! Free at last!


Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!