We are the beacon of light atop the tallest lighthouse of democracy, built upon the roughhewn rocks of our founding fathers. Strewn upon the abiding shore "liberty for all" with the ceaseless sounds of the shoreline exclaiming "inalienable rights," "life," Liberty," "and pursuit of happiness" with the tides of destiny sometimes determining only a safe, narrow footpath clinging to our lighthouse, and at other tides, extending the beaches of our safe harbor, turning it into a broad thoroughfare for the tourists of the world to romp upon.
This "safe harbor" of democracy is predicated on the American myth, that fantastical fairy tale that we are all born "with an equal chance to" succeed and fulfill our dreams and hopes of happiness. The closer a ship approaches, it's apparent to all aboard that the sands of our shoreline are constantly shifting: fault lines beneath the feet of the average citizen. Only the highly perched and firmly propped-up condos of the wealthy on the cliffs encircling the shoreline, seem exempt from this constant course of erosion. For no one is free to pursue any other course but sheer survival: scraping away a living to just house, eat, and clothe.
Only the wealthy can get above survival, daring to expand their minds by having a ”time to think and create” and thus become more like our creator—the true purpose of humanity.
Where our hearts feel no compassion to assist our fellow man, it becomes the duty of democracy to abet the expansion of our thoughts and actions towards the infinite.
— Mark R. Prascak