Editor, The Beacon:

“Things acquired too freely have little or no value.”

Items that require blood, sweat and tears take on deeply meaningful value. In many situations, the value is determined by the struggle, confrontation, fighting and sacrifice.

The colonists who chose to make this nation a free sovereign country knew full well the value of what was at stake. Fast-forward to the Civil War, in which the rights of “all men are created equal,” required sacrifices that spoke volumes about the value of human dignity.

Going a step further, the value of the suffrage movement calling for women to have equal rights to men, took great courage and sacrifice. Yet even today, women are still fighting; no man or group of men should dictate what a woman can do with her body.

Today, we are in a struggle to save our democracy. Lives have already been lost (a la Jan. 6) and undoubtedly there will be more with evil Felon47 at the helm. Hopefully we can avoid another civil war (no war is “civil”). All of these issues have lasting meaningful value, but the fight is far from over.

Two examples about value come to mind which represent opposite ends of the spectrum. The first and most extreme is the value of freedom. Protecting our democracy will require great resistance and sacrifice. The judicial branch of government may be our greatest protector, alongside our democratic contingent in Congress, but we must make our voices heard and our presence known.

This is not a spectator sport. The evil — white supremacy — that is being unleashed today is similar in many ways to what nearly broke the nation in 1860-65.

Cult 45-47 white nationalist Christians, including those GOP members of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court conservatives, have proved to be hypocrites. It is now OK to lie. As children, we were taught not to lie, and we passed that same value along to our children. We were taught “right from wrong.” Meaningful, lasting values.

The second example — small, minute scale by comparison. I gave a framed picture of a hummingbird to a friend for her mother. It cost my friend nothing. I even delivered it. It was free, although I spent hours over the course of several days to capture the image, print it, and process the hundreds of images to get the right one.

I did not expect payment of any kind; however, the courtesy of a thank-you note would have been appreciated.

Point being: Things acquired too freely have little or no value. Such is life.

We must protest, resist and keep up the good fight to save our democracy. The value of freedom will require blood, sweat and tears.

Ray Johnson
DeLand