“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.” (Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence). Our Founding Fathers believed so strongly in the divine sovereignty of the individual and that all people had inalienable rights given them by God and not by any form of early government that they started a war. Our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not up for debate. They are not subject to alteration or dissolution, no matter our circumstances. If we have been diagnosed with a fatal illness, or have had the sentence of death placed upon us, or have fallen into the hands of enemies with murderous intent, we still have the right to life that can't be taken from us. We have the right to choose life over death even as cancer ravages our body, or the noose is tightened around our neck, or a gun is placed against our head. If we are chained down by disability or disease, addiction or debt, captivity or improvement, nevertheless, we have the right to liberty. That liberty may be no more than the freedom to open or close our eyes, to pace from one end of a cell to the other, to choose gratitude and patience over resentment and bitterness, but even such scant liberties are ours all the same. If we are buckling under the impossible weight of severe depression, if we are drowning in grief over the loss of a spouse or a parent or a child, if we have lost all of our worldly possessions and our livelihood, nevertheless, we still have the right to pursue happiness. It may seem to dangle always out of reach no matter what we do, but we cannot be robbed of our right to continue pursuing happiness, no matter our present circumstances. No government or any group or person in a position of power has the right or the ability to attempt to separate us from our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and neither should we ever attempt to devalue or demean these rights for ourselves, even if at times it seems impossible that we still possess these rights. I know that we can always choose life over death, liberty over captivity, and the pursuit of happiness over the nihilism and cynicism of despair and hopelessness. God gave us these rights and no one, not even ourselves, can take them away.
