Lessons on Liberty from the Nursing Home...and Ms. Ruth

I went to see my grandmother in the nursing/rehab home.  The timing of my arrival coincided with the morning assembly for exercise.  A group of about twelve elderly people were sitting in a circle, my granny included, preparing to follow the instructions and demonstrations of the therapist. 

When the exercise devices were issued, the therapist handed one to me.  (Am I really looking that old?)  So...for the next hour I joined in one of the most fantastic experiences I have had in a long time.  Seriously!  We did knee bends, curls, 'row-boat', leg kicks and various other exercises in very slow motion and all from a sitting position.

The main attraction of the event was a spry little lady everyone knows as Ruth.  Ruth would encourage others with overt gestures, she would break out singing, she would make a fuss with the other residents.  She loving called one peer and 'old man'.  She laughed and clapped and sang!

It was her singing that captured me...especially when the therapist told me Ms. Ruth was 102 years old!  Wow!  (which was a word she used a few times too.)  I was sitting across from someone with a One Hundred and Two year old perspective.  Let me help you with that.  102 years ago Oklahoma was not yet a state; electricity was in very few homes; Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the U.S.; times we much simpler.  One thing for sure, she was more closely connected to the true roots of our nation's liberty than we are today.  Now about her song.

During one of the exercises Ruth, with her beautiful white hair and delightful smile, burst out singing "My country 'tis of thee...sweet land of liberty...of thee I see...land where my fathers died...land of the Pilgrim's pride...from every mountain side...let freedom ring."  I have to tell you it was beautiful.  I was enriched.  Wish you could have been there.

Early this morning I watched the news and saw that the government is going to mandate fast- food restaurants place the calories beside the food items!  They have 'chipped' our vehicles so 'Big Brother' can watch every where we go!  Corporate monopolies are buying up the American power of choice.  We are selling our souls and jobs to cheap labor in foreign countries!  Red tape entangles the entrepranuer who wants to start a business, build a house etc. with taxes, forms, fees, and generally needless regulations out the wazoo!  Parents have to 'sign in' when they go to the school their own taxes paid for and where their own flesh and blood is studying.  Want to go fishing?  You must buy a license, read a book of regulations, pay to license your boat...and sometimes pay to launch it.  Government has gotten out of control and the average American...who lives in the 'land of the free' is sabotaged at every turn.

So just where is this land of Pilgrim's pride and brotherhood and liberty?  I think you may have to go back 102 years or more to find it...or visit an exercise session at the nursing home.  They all seem more free than most.    

Regards,

Tim