Take responsibility

    It seems appropriate at this time of year to give honor to those who accepted the risk that freedom demands and signed America's "Declaration of Independence."
    Consider the final sentence, "And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
    If truth needs to be proclaimed, courageous men will put their popularity, their money, and their lives on the line.
    It is an appropriate time to give dishonor to the cowards called "Name Withheld" whose letters clutter the newspaper. Had the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence insisted their names be withheld, we would still be living under the tyranny of foreign rule.
    We must accept the responsibility involved in maintaining our freedoms, including standing behind the truth with our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Michael S. Cole, M.D.
3 July 1990
Southwest Times Record


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