Fourth of July

The Fourth of July this year in the United States marked Independence Day when the representatives of the American colonies approved their Declaration of Independence from England on July 4, 1776. Here in the States, it also marked end of the Fortnight for Freedom declared this year by the American Catholic bishops against the Health and Human Services government mandate, some elements of which contradict the Church’s stand on marriage and respect for human life from conception to natural death. I wonder how we in the Philippines are getting along on our similar controversial Reproductive Health bill.

The closing Mass for the Fortnight of Freedom (June 21 – July 4) was celebrated by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Archbishop Charles Chaput at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. It was aired worldwide by the Catholic television network EWTN which I regularly tune in to when in Cebu, and in the States when I am visiting here.

American bishops declared the Fortnight for Freedom for religious liberty, for the free exercise of faith and conscience in a world of secularism, to conclude with the observation of American Independence Day with “Its soul, its climate, its equality, liberty, laws, people, and manners,” to quote Thomas Jefferson in letter to James Monroe in 1765. And as the editorial in the Texas paper Star-Telegram last July 4th was titled, “The Founder’s wisdom: Timely still.”

In an opinion special in the same paper that day, James Harrington, director of the Texas civil rights project, asked, “Is July Fourth only about parades, hot dogs and fireworks?” He lamented that America as a country, was “veering away from our community goals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone,” towards individualism, civil dialogue buried in partisan politics, maldistribution of wealth, increasing unemployment, disregard of workers’ rights and inadequate budgets for teachers and education, among many more. Sounds similar to our Philippine situation? Well, as Adlai Stevenson put it: “Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

Speaking of education, considering the recent commencement exercises in schools this year, Star-Telegram editorial director Jill Labbe reminds graduates, “Your education is not over.” That it is a lifelong endeavor encompassing more than that learned in school. It is seeing the world with open eyes and mind. Making every day the next chapter in one’s education. Thoughts to remember in connection with our new K to 12 education system implemented this year.

Last Saturday, my daughter and I decided to view the ongoing Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibition at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

We first viewed the gallery at the ground floor which had large, beautiful photographs to set the scene where the scrolls were discovered in Qumran, a desolate area on the shores of the Dead Sea. Display cases followed with pieces of pottery, ceramic and glassware. Then utilitarian household ware as well as a few grooming items such as combs, razors and pots for cosmetics and medicinals, as well as a Bedouin’s tent in a circular corner spot. Limestone walls lined the narrow visitor route reminding of the desert locale.

At the top floor, antiquities and photographs told of the finding of the scrolls in 1947. They were believed to have been hidden during the first Jewish revolt against the occupying Roman forces in A. D. 66 to 70 when the Qumran settlement was destroyed. Almost 2,000 years later, the scrolls were found by sheep herders and eventually 11 caves were found with hidden scrolls.

At the end of this part of the exhibit were facsimilies, replicas of the most precious rolls not in the exhibit but still in existence. We could get very close to see the amazingly tiny handwriting in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic.

Downstairs, after walking through a recreation of Cave 4 where hundreds of manuscripts were found, we finally saw the real scroll pieces. They were written on ragged and discolored sheepskin. Since the pieces are so fragile, the ones on display are enclosed in huge, climate-controlled Plexiglas boxes with light sensors that came on when we would be directly in front of the fragment. It had been quite moving to see the three or four lines of text that remain intact.

These tiny shreds of history are the oldest known pieces of the Hebrew Old Testament. Once found and identified, they clarify Bible passages that had been translated so many times that the original meaning had become obscure. They are considered priceless.

The exhibit, showing a total of 21 fragments, includes seven of its scrolls and borrowed additional ones from the private collection of the Kando family of Bethlehem, the Hebrew University, and the Department of Antiquities in Jordan. These are the heart of the exhibit and are in two narrow galleries in the center of the ground floor. The exhibit took almost two hours to go through and provided one of my most illuminating experiences in this current visit to the States.

In closing, I came across to items on two late American writers reported on in the Star-Telegram last week. Ernest Hemingway had inspired frustrated novelists over an admission that the final words of his wartime masterpiece were rewritten 39 times before he was satisfied! The endings, a part of literary lore and never published, will be released in a new edition next week of his “A Farewell to Arms.” Five decades after his death, William Faulkner still draws literary pilgrims to his Mississippi hometown, Oxford, the “little postage stamp of a town” of native soil he made famous through his novels.

From the world of movies, actor Ernest Borgnine of the tough guy roles, died July 8th last week in Los Angeles at the age of 95, while actor Rod Steiger, of On the Waterfront was remembered on the 10th anniversary of his death at the age of 77 last July 9th.

Till next week, then, as usual, may God continue to bless us, one and all!