Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date:  March 15, 2007 - # 911 – A week to Remember (804)

When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence he declared one of mankind’s unalienable rights was “the pursuit of happiness.” His words likely inspired Gouverneur Morris, chairman of the constitution’s committee on style, to add the Preamble to the Constitution which included six goals regarding what the Founding Father’s hoped America could become, the sixth goal being to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, …” This Preamble became the Founding Father’s mission statement for America.

            Every new family begins their marriage with “the pursuit of happiness” a given and assume “the Blessings of Liberty” is a guaranteed right. But attaining these family goals will differ as much as each American family differs. Many variables, including native heritage, racial heritage, and religious heritage, are involved in establishing family goals, with each variable playing a major and defining role.

            I was raised in a white protestant rural home surrounded by a catholic community. Mother and dad were both of Scottish ancestry, with their grandparents emigrating from the Scottish Highlands to Canada in the early 1800s. So they were both loyal to their small country Presbyterian Church that served not only their religious needs but provided for much of their social and recreational needs as well. Their religious foundation played a major roll in our family’s life during the great depression and in the decisions I would make later in life regarding my own religious lifestyle.

My family introduced me to the Christian religion and to the religious principles and doctrines they and my ancestors espoused – family as the foundation of society and the classroom for learning to live in society, the need for both a mother and father in every child’s life, love and respect for parents, love for siblings, respect for one’s ancestral elders, hard work, a respect for the law, both secular and spiritual, and for America and the principles of freedom and liberty embedded in its foundational documents by the founders, an education adequate to support a family, and service to others, both in the home and community – the basic principles of life children need to understand in order to govern themselves as contributing members of society.

Mother instilled in me a love for the Bible and for Paul’s clear concise teachings regarding God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost. She also taught me the reality of Satan and of the temptations he could and would use to lead mankind down to ‘hell.’ However, perhaps, the most important principle she taught me was how to look for and recognize the difference between salvation and exaltation. This lesson played a key role in my choice of a family church nearly 50 years ago.

            This Scottish cultural and religious foundation played a major role in my ‘pursuit of happiness’ while using Morris’ “Blessing of Liberty” principal to build my family’s religious foundation on.          

Of equal importance was my parent’s example of sticking together (70 years) through difficult times. Their commitment to one anther helped me through equally difficult times in my years of marriage and child rearing. Their example continued long after their children left the nest, helping me follow their lead in providing a wholesome and peaceful retreat for their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Their model helped us to build a similar refuge for our family from the rigors of daily living becoming another pattern for our children as they work with their children, our grandchildren, helping them mature into responsible adults and accepting the responsibilities of both adulthood and parenting. It is difficult to describe the joy their example has brought into our lives. We have, as many families do, passed on to our children those principles of life we learned from our parents as children.

Great happiness comes when children and grandchildren call to share the important events in their lives. Such recent calls include: Wendi’s call to announce her marriage in June, Don’s call to invite us to his graduation (electrical engineering Masters degree) in April, Aaron’s call about being approved to buy his first home, Hope’s call to ask advise on a church talk, Hannah’s call to discuss a school assignment on the Constitution, Amanda’s call (an Etowah senior) to tell us she was accepted to BYU Idaho, Melina’s e-mail that contained three pages of ancestral names dating back to 1730 and an invitation to her and her husband’s graduation (masters in mathematics and a MBA) in April, and son Curtis’ call to advise his doctoral thesis had been approved. We are harvesting happiness after a lifetime of parenting, grand parenting and great grand parenting.

Jefferson was right; ‘happiness’ is an unalienable right, and Morris was also right when he added “securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” as a goal for all Americans.