NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS

"Today's Thoughts 2/22/12 NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS

Jesus said, "...you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32. There I go right off the bat starting out quoting scripter right out of the bible. Hold on folks, not that I mind doing a little Bible quoting every now and then, I just think that for now I will just throw in a few facts that seem to be lost in history about who we are as a people. I could wonder why these things have been lost but we all know the answer. In an effort to change history for their own benefits, we as a nation are being retrained on purpose not to know or understand our history and where it is or why it was that we came from as Americans.

Well the best defense against that is to seek out and educate ourselves to know and understand these things. That my dear friends, is what I am all about today. I found a gem that has been quietly tucked away and forgotten about and if you will lend me a few minutes of your time, I think I can help Americans reclaim the knowledge of who and why we are. A few things that they are trying to lead us to forget. Let us take a little trip if you will back to the eighteen hundreds and see what it is that we can see.

The place, Plymouth, Massachusetts is where one can find The National Monument to the Forefathers. In a little park located in a residential area this eighty-one foot tall granite monument stands alone and forgotten it seems to most Americans today. The cornerstone of the monument was laid on August 2, 1859 by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts under the direction of Grand Master John T. Heard. The monument was said to be completed in October 1888. It was then dedicated with on August 1, 1889. What this Monument depicts is what the Pilgrims that founded our country were looking for. It shows their hopes and dreams for the new country that they had set out to form and how they viewed the world that they had escaped. Let us take a moment to look at each different aspect of this great monument and see what it is that we have been lead to forget about the founding of our Nation.

On top stands the monument's central figure, Faith. The figure is of a woman and attests to the strong belief that having faith in God is of primary importance. She Holds a Bible in her left hand and points to the Heavens with her right hand.

Around her and closer to the base of the monument are four other figures. The first that I will describe is Morality. The figure depicts a woman and in her left hand she is holding a book inscribed with "GOD." In addition, she holds in her right hand the scroll of Revelation. At the base of the figure is two inset carvings, the first being of Moses, the Prophet, with him holding the Ten Commandments, and the other is of an Evangelist writing in a book.
As we move along and around the monument, we see that the next figure promotes the value of Education. Another woman and she is enthusiastically pointing to a book and all around her small figures at her base representing Youth and Wisdom. So far I think I am liking what this monument has to offer America, let's move along and see what lies ahead.

The Law seems to be next. As we all know with any ordered society, you must have laws to keep things in order. Rules and regulations are necessary if society is to survive. This figure is of a man holding a book. As we look under his chair, we find the figures of Justice and Mercy, key points to any great Nation.

The last figure at this level that you will see is Liberty. He is depicted by a helmeted soldier wearing a lion's skin and in his arms he holds a sword and a broken chain. The small figures at the base of his chair are Peace and Tyranny. Peace is a woman holding a horn filled with food and drink. Then we find Tyranny being represented by the figure of a king laid low by a soldier. The Second amendment in granite form.

So we have Freedom, Morality, Law and Education all look over by Faith in a God and on the front panel we find this inscribed. "National Monument to the Forefathers. Erected by a grateful people in remembrance of their labors, sacrifices and sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty."

On the right and left panels are the names of those who came over in the Mayflower. Looking at the rear panel, which was not engraved until recently, is a quote from Governor William Bradford's famous history, Of Plymouth Plantation: It reads as follows;

"Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all praise."

Also you will find that on each side of the monument's pedestal, directly under each of the 4 ancillary figures, a scene illustrating events from the Pilgrims' history. The first scene shows Pilgrims boarding the Mayflower and traveling to the New World. Another of the Forefathers drawing up the Mayflower Compact aboard The Mayflower, just prior to setting foot on Cape Cod. A third shows the Pilgrims' first landing. The forth being a scene showing the Pilgrims meeting with the local Wampanoag Indian Tribal Elders.

As you can see, this forgotten monument was built by our forefathers in my opinion to help future Americans remember not only who they were in years gone by, but to help us find the path to who we should be in future generations. We are not a people that are born to be government dependents but a people that through faith in a being greater then ourselves, that we shall remain a people that shall remain free from the tyranny of governments that would hold us hostage for whatever reason. A lesson that in today's times with our current administration we need to guard against with great regard. We truly need to heed the lessons of the past lest we become the next Pilgrims searching for the next free Nation.

Above all, I believe this monument cements in granite the very fact that our Nation was founded upon religious principles. It would be a very fool hearted thing to do in my opinion to forget that fact. We must stand strong as a People and defend ourselves from those that would take our freedoms from us, from those that would change our history and impose their own form of tyranny upon us.

Be safe peeps Jeff Head.
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