This week marks the 250th birthday of our great country! To recognize this anniversary, I am taking a break from my series of articles about the Ten Commandments. I will resume that series next week. But this week, let me share why I am proud to be an American.
As I have often shared in this column, my wife and I served as missionaries in other countries: Liberia, Bangladesh, and China. We enjoyed living in each of those countries, and we loved the people we met there, but our home was always in the States. I could share many reasons why I love America, but perhaps Norman Rockwell expressed my feelings best in his famous paintings: The Four Freedoms. I like those paintings both because I like Rockwell’s style of painting, and because I am inspired by how he depicted the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.
Rockwell painted the four pictures in 1943 as the United States was fighting in World War II. He intended to support the war effort, but unlike most war paintings which illustrate military scenes, Rockwell’s four paintings illustrate the reasons why we were fighting: to preserve the life we enjoy, and the freedoms which protect that life.
I suspect that many of you will remember the four paintings:
•Freedom of Speech, shows a man standing to speak in a townhall meeting, freely giving his opinion as his neighbors all pay attention to what he is saying.
•Freedom from Want, this may be the most famous of the four paintings, sometimes called the Thanksgiving picture. It shows a family gathered around the dining room table, excitedly waiting as the two grandparents are placing the roast turkey on the table.
•Freedom from Fear, shows two parents tucking their two children into bed at night. The father holds a folded newspaper with headlines about the war happening in Europe. The picture represents the kind of peaceful world we want for our children—though such security may not always be present elsewhere.
•Freedom to Worship. Actually this was the second painting in the series, but since this column is about religion, I saved this one for last. The other three paintings each tell a little story: a man speaking at a meeting, a family sharing a meal, parents putting their children to bed, but this painting just shows close-ups of half a dozen faces, none of them looking at each other, some with head bowed, their hands clasped in prayer, and others looking off into an unseen distance. Each face represents a different kind of worship, as indicated by the quote from George Washington printed at the top of the painting: “Each According to the Dictates of His Own Conscience.” I like to think that one of those faces represents me and my faith.
Rockwell’s four paintings were based on the 1941 State of the Union speech given by President Franklin Roosevelt. He spoke about “four essential human freedoms” which he suggested should be guaranteed “everywhere in the world.” Here is a quotation of that speech: “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want— which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”
Two of the four freedoms are freedom to…, and two are freedoms from…. Two freedoms to do what we choose to do: freedom of speech, freedom of religion; and two freedoms from hunger and insecurity. As Roosevelt described and as Rockwell painted, America was fighting in a World War to protect those freedoms. Thankfully that war was successful.
What makes America great is not that we agree on everything—it seems we hardly agree on anything— but that we have the freedom to disagree, and we grant each other that same freedom. Even freedom of religion, the freedom closest to my heart, allows Americans to disagree. It is because our constitution grants each of us the freedom of worshipping according to “the dictates of our own conscience” that I have the freedom of worshipping according to my conscience. Ultimately, my freedom of religion is grounded in everybody’s freedom of religion. Some countries don’t grant that freedom, but America does. That is why I am glad to be an American.
Greg Giles is a published author, who, along with his wife Jean, has embraced the call to serve and teach around the globe. Their life together has included missionary work in Liberia, Bangladesh, teaching in China, and raising a family in Bemidji, Minnesota. Between global travels and local commitments, including serving as superintendent of Corn Bible Academy and their current part-time roles at Corn Heritage Village, the Gileses have found “home” in many places; yet, they now happily reside in retirement in Cordell.