Yes, I know that the saying is "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," from the United States Declaration of Independence.  As the title suggests, this post is not about independence in the U.S.   It is about the kind of life, relative lack of liberty, and the ''pursuit" of death on the streets of Tehran, that I am seeing playing out on television. 

        I saw a woman die on the streets of Tehran.  She "pursued" death and it caught her. Why am I describing the killing of this woman as her "pursuit" of death?  This is my roundabout way of paying tribute to those Iranians who flooded the streets of their capital city in defiance of the Grand Leader of Iran.  I will not spend time trying to get his grandiose title correctly. This woman and the thirty or forty who were murdered by representatives of their government, knew full well that they were not going to be treated to snacks.  Quite the reverse.  They were smacked around, bloodied, and the "lucky" ones died.  "Lucky" because if the Grand Leaders do not back down, those Iranians who remain in the land of the living, may come to wish that they were killed.  "Liberty" could be the least of their worries. 

        As I saw the carnage on the streets, I began thinking what if that happened in the U.S., the land of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"  How would we as a nation react to suddenly waking up one morning and instead of a president, governed by the U.S. Constitution, we have a Grand Leader, who gives orders to break up any protests by "any means necessary?"  Would the authorities perform their "mandate" to stop the marching on the streets, with such vigor?  What would be the body count?  Would I be as brave as that woman, to go marching on the streets, knowing full well that I may not return to bake that chicken that I have marinating in the refrigerator? 

        I don't want to find out.  I pray to God that He, undeserving though we are, does not let us find out.  I pray that He preserves this democratic republic of the United States of America, that we do not forget how this country was founded through His grace, on the principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  

 

        I never want to see the blood of my fellow citizens flowing down the streets, while other citizens are too cowed to even realize that their unique country has been destroyed. 

        I have learned three lessons from the situation in Iran, or more specifically, had those lessons reinforced.  The most tangible lesson is the power of the World Wide Web. Despotic governments are going to try their best to close off communication, but isn't It ironic that Internet sites that were intended for "social" networking are becoming unwitting participants in social upheaval?  Those Grand Leaders in Iran, are finding out that those intrepid "social" networkers are always a step ahead of the attempts of the Grand Leaders, to clamp down on communication.  Like little birds tweeting in the forest, the Internet Tweeters are tweeting out what was supposed to be kept hidden. 

        The second lesson that came forcefully home to me is that God did indeed create us with an innate desire for liberty as one of our "unalienable rights."  This thirst for liberty is not governed by geography, color of skin, type of creed, or even cultural indoctrination.  We all just want to be free!  Totalitarian governments, and even non-totalitarian governments, should take a lesson from this Iranian struggle.  Even if it is thirty years later, the hunger for freedom will burst out of the lockbox.  The Grand Leaders with all of the forces that they control, may very well win, but as Shakespeare warned:  "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."  Oh, another quotation from Shakespeare, that they may want to check out: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

        This last lesson I will keep close to my heart.  As I looked at those citizens of Iran, being bludgeoned by their "law" enforcement personnel, I vowed that we in the U.S. have to ensure the preservation of our nation.  I can only thank God that I live in the United States, still "land of the free, and home of the brave," where I can still enjoy my "unalienable right" to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  May I never have to find out what went through the thoughts of that lady as she was slaughtered on the streets of Tehran.