This Week's Story
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What should my rights as a United States citizen be? What are my God-given rights?
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
You Do Not Own Me! part two
“Dad, I need more freedom to learn to think for myself and make decisions. Sometimes I need your help, but I also need freedom to fail and succeed. You do not own me.”
“Independence is risky.”
“Dad, I feel the danger, and the excitement! Remember how you taught me that steps of preparation could take me to the unknown. I earned the money to buy a motorcycle. You gave me driver’s training and showed me how to maintain my motorcycle. You were worried that I would not drive safely on the freeway. Now I can! You call independence American and Texan rights.”
“Right! They are stated in our American Declaration of Independence. ‘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.’
“Dad, these rights are from God. Governments are to keep these rights safe, and to do so with the agreement of the people governed.”
“I agree, Tyler! When I attempt to understand life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I try to apply what I discover. Surprisingly, I become a better listener. I am more willing to consider the needs and thoughts of other people. You and I are both on learning paths.”
“Thanks, Dad, for listening and sharing.
“In civics class I am studying the Texas Constitution. It reminds me of the Declaration of Independence. It recognizes God and that people need to know their rights and keep them.
“I memorized some of it. ‘Humbly invoking the blessing of Almighty God, the people of the State of Texas do ordain and establish this Constitution.’
“It also has words a bit tough to understand: ‘Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States.’
“I’ve been asking myself: What does it mean to be a free Texan, a free American, and a free person?
“Tyler, Texas has had six different flags fly over all or parts of Texas, because we have had six different countries own all or part of Texas territory. Do you know what the countries were?”
“Yes! They were Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederate States of America. They did not all have the same rights for their people.
“For example, Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829 in most of Mexico. Then, slavery was legal in the United States. Mexico’s president in 1829 was Vicente Ramon Guerrero. He was mixed race, working to have more rights for all Mexicans.”
Texas continues now in 2024 to face challenges, as it struggles to secure rights for its people.
Next week we meet Texas Rangers as they fight in a battle for rights.
Scott Thomas, Nathan Thomas, and Barbara Steiner present this story for you. Tyler and his dad are fictitious and in a historical setting.
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