"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
With these words, some 56 men chose to set themselves against the greatest military power of their time 233 years ago this month.
It is easy for us in our own troubled times to think things are as bad as they can be. Certainly the state of the economy and our risking the lives of some of our best young women and men in two different wars would argue for that. Certainly the arrogance and deceit of a few of our business leaders would argue for that.
But consider what it must have been like for those men--and for those women and men who depended on them to make right decisions rightly at the risk of their lives and well-being. Not only were we likely to lose the war, it was considered impossible that if we won we could govern ourselves as a democratic republic across such a huge expanse of geography and with so many people. And there were some fundamental flaws built into our beginnings, including slavery and a basic disagreement about how far individual liberty should be taken at the expense of the common good, and vice versa.
They knew what they were facing, and wrote their pledge accordingly:
"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."
Or as Benjamin Franklin more wittily put it:
"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."
On this 233rd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration and the birth of a new nation, let us all draw from their courage and vision to face our challenges and fundamental flaws as a nation and a people.
This weekend, as we watch the "pomp and parade, ...shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations" that John Adams predicted, as we get together with family and friends to picnic and barbecue, let us silently, or by singing, or by affirming out loud reaffirm our own commitment to what really makes the United States great:
More than wealth and natural resources, more than size and military might, it is the idea that a people can govern themselves, can make and support hard choices, can defend their own liberty by serving in the military but also by serving on a jury or voting or signing a petition or helping their neighbors recover from disaster without being asked.
Please join with me in that reaffirmation, in pledging our sacred honor to making those brave words written over two centuries ago live on for our grandchildren and beyond.
Please join with me in thanking those who serve their nation across the globe and praying for their safe return home.
I wish all of the students, faculty, staff, friends, supporters, alumni and their families a fun-filled but meaningful Fourth of July.
David Sam
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
A record 601 students pass GED exam during 2008-09
With 35 men and women passing their GED exams on Saturday June 27, a grand total of 601 test-takers have earned their GEDs for 2008-09. The previous high was 537 in 2007-08.
My congratulations to the students and thanks to the staff at Germanna and all of our partners who helped them succeed.
My congratulations to the students and thanks to the staff at Germanna and all of our partners who helped them succeed.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Let us gather around their sacred remains
On this Memorial Day weekend, we gather family and friends for picnics and barbecues. We hope for nice weather and good company, and there is nothing at all wrong with these activities and these hopes.
However, we should not forget the original and still timely purpose of what was first called "Decoration Day." Today, as throughout our history, men and women are placing their lives and bodies in harm's way so that we here at home remain safe and free. If we cannot actually decorate the graves of the fallen, we can stop in our activities to remember and silently thank those who did not come home. We can also take time to thank the living veterans for their high service.
We can remember the original purpose for this holiday:
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
Here follows an excerpt from the original proclamation of 1868:
Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868
The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country....
... All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation’s gratitude,—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.
By command of:
JOHN A. LOGAN,Commander-in-Chief.
N. P. CHIPMAN,Adjutant-General.
However, we should not forget the original and still timely purpose of what was first called "Decoration Day." Today, as throughout our history, men and women are placing their lives and bodies in harm's way so that we here at home remain safe and free. If we cannot actually decorate the graves of the fallen, we can stop in our activities to remember and silently thank those who did not come home. We can also take time to thank the living veterans for their high service.
We can remember the original purpose for this holiday:
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
Here follows an excerpt from the original proclamation of 1868:
Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868
The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country....
... All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation’s gratitude,—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.
By command of:
JOHN A. LOGAN,Commander-in-Chief.
N. P. CHIPMAN,Adjutant-General.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
100% Pass rate for Dental Hygiene Students
Congratulations to the dental hygiene students and their faculty. Once again, 100% passed their National Board examinations.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
MORE's Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I was both humbled and honored today to be able to speak a few words at the Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by the Multicultural OutReach Effort (MORE). Here are my comments spoken at James Monroe High School:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” He knew that to have an education was to have hope. To have an education was to have a dream, to have the knowledge, skills and character to achieve that dream. He knew that if we were truly to be judged by the content of our character, it was education that molded and shaped that character.
Dr. King said that "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. [That] Intelligence plus character is the goal of true education."
Dr. King knew that, for most of American history, education had been used to divide the races, to keep a whole people from having and achieving their dreams for themselves and their children.
“It is precisely because education is the road to equality and citizenship, that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights,” he said. “The walling off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status. Therefore, as Negroes have struggled to be free they have had to fight for the opportunity for a decent education.”
He said that the family ”is the main educational agency of mankind,” and that as long as the family was being undermined, dreams and hopes were often replaced by despair and hopelessness.
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity," he said. And his entire life was dedicated to defeating ignorance and stupidity. His life serves as a model. He was educated and fought for others to be so educated. He saw his ministry and his activism as opportunities to teach with the entire nation, indeed the entire world, as his classroom.
His too brief life modeled his belief that “the quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.” His life is a beacon that shines a light on our successes and failures, and guides us from the shoals of failure towards his dream of a society and educational system where we can truly be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Too many are still left behind. The beacon of his life glares a spotlight on what we have yet to do and aims us towards the way to achieve the dream of an empowering education for all of our citizens.
****
Thank you for the humbling honor of being in the presence of those of you who are heroes of America's Second Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and for the opportunity to combine some of my poor words with those great expressions by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” He knew that to have an education was to have hope. To have an education was to have a dream, to have the knowledge, skills and character to achieve that dream. He knew that if we were truly to be judged by the content of our character, it was education that molded and shaped that character.
Dr. King said that "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. [That] Intelligence plus character is the goal of true education."
Dr. King knew that, for most of American history, education had been used to divide the races, to keep a whole people from having and achieving their dreams for themselves and their children.
“It is precisely because education is the road to equality and citizenship, that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights,” he said. “The walling off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status. Therefore, as Negroes have struggled to be free they have had to fight for the opportunity for a decent education.”
He said that the family ”is the main educational agency of mankind,” and that as long as the family was being undermined, dreams and hopes were often replaced by despair and hopelessness.
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity," he said. And his entire life was dedicated to defeating ignorance and stupidity. His life serves as a model. He was educated and fought for others to be so educated. He saw his ministry and his activism as opportunities to teach with the entire nation, indeed the entire world, as his classroom.
His too brief life modeled his belief that “the quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.” His life is a beacon that shines a light on our successes and failures, and guides us from the shoals of failure towards his dream of a society and educational system where we can truly be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Too many are still left behind. The beacon of his life glares a spotlight on what we have yet to do and aims us towards the way to achieve the dream of an empowering education for all of our citizens.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Russell James, Director of the Daniel Center, Earns Professional in Workforce Development Certification
Congratulations to Russell James, Director of the Daniel Center in Culpeper for successfully completing a certificate from the University Of Virginia School Of Continuing and Professional Studies and the Workforce Development Academy designating him as a "Professional in Workforce Development."
According to Barbara Kessler at UVA, "The PWD certification designation signifies exceptional knowledge and practice of the workforce development professional competencies." Good show, Russell.
According to Barbara Kessler at UVA, "The PWD certification designation signifies exceptional knowledge and practice of the workforce development professional competencies." Good show, Russell.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Annual Report provides glimpse at what makes Germanna Community College special
This year’s Annual Report, available now, celebrates the contributions and achievements of Germanna students, faculty, alumni. And it recognizes the generosity of community stakeholders whose contributions have become more important than ever as the state has been forced to make budget cuts.
Among those featured:
- Ninety-four -year-old Germanna computer science student Claire Ducker, for providing an inspiring example of what lifelong learning is all about.
- Associate Dean Judi Bartlett, whose selflessness in giving of her time sets a standard of going above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to caring about, taking a personal interest in, and helping students.
- Retiring English instructor Rob Sherwood, who brought an energetic, imaginative and fun approach to learning despite a long and debilitating battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
- David Rose, who has been a part of Germanna since the College opened in 1970 as a student, faculty member and a member of the GCC Local College Board.
- Hugh Cosner, whose generosity to Germanna earned him a statewide award for philanthropy.
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