KCT Thought of the Week, July 4, 2014

“The southwest wind brought us the soft aroma of the pines, the dry odor of dead leaves, the scent of the marsh and of the gray mud, washed by the tides. It seemed to me the most beautiful country in the world—more beautiful, in spite of the November chill and the dull autumn twilight, than the mountains of Spain or the parks of England—than the broad rivers, the prairies, the lakes, the towering cliffs of the West. There was something about it that caught at my throat—that filled me with a sense of exultation: of freedom. It was my country. In it there was something mysterious and unseen that could never be taken from me. Others might call it theirs: might drive me from it: might burn down the house: might fell the gnarled apple tree beside the kitchen door; but the river would be there still, winding in S’s through the marsh. The sea and the pines and the rounded ledges would be there always, waiting. There would always be ducks, contentedly peering beneath the banks for the strange things ducks eat: always a green heron to flop from the marsh in a frenzy of fear: always the fragrance of mallow and lilacs in the spring, the sweet breath of the sea, the web of song from the bobolinks and robins. Whatever happened, it would be my country still.” ~ Kenneth Roberts, “Rabble in Arms”
Celebrating Freedom: Photo by Robert Dennis