Well, the halfway point as come and gone with the nasty chemo treatments, and I am onto the four rounds of the "red devil". I took my first dose of that last Wednesday and the worst result of that is the overwhelming fatigue and the water retention. I am supposed to keep my feet up all the time, but I have very little tolerance or time for that. The water seems to like to creep up towards my heart if I stay on my feet for too long and I guess that seems to be bad....
Anyway, this last appointment gave us the results of the genetics test. Our crazy family has so much cancer in it that the genetics specialist has been very excited to get these results back. All three girls, my dad, and my sister went with me and my dad tried to take careful notes. Of course they decided to make this appointment RIGHT after I took my chemo so his notes could be awful and I would have no idea! (just kidding)
It seems that it is possible to test for up to ten genes for hereditary cancer, and they could test for the the first two this time-the now famous BRCA1 and BRCA2 which have been making so many headlines these days. They started with these because they are the two that are the most common to be associated with breast and ovarian cancer that runs so rampant in my family. Genetic testing is complex and expensive because there are hundreds of possible mutations to look for. Also, even if a mutation is found it does not mean that a person will certainly develop breast cancer – only that they have a higher risk of the disease. ANYWAY- BRCA1 and BRCA2 are a NO in my wacky code. Big shock because why should I be normal? My doctor was not sad or upset. I might judge his reaction as carefully controlled delight if I did not know better. In fact, he decided that he wanted to recommend our family for ANOTHER study. By this I mean our WHOLE family. I had a feeling this would happen. He is kind of a lab rat himself, and this is a great chance for him-haha.
The study would make it possible for many members of our family to be tested- not only sisters, brother, daughters, but also aunts, cousins, etc to see just what was going on. The crazy thing is, the more I find out, the more at peace with this I get. I am waiting right now to find out if we meet all the criteria, but I have no doubt that we will.
Right now I am sick, I am tired, and I am about to be weepy, but if you are on this list you have been going through this journey with me so you understand. Everything from the beginning of this, from it happening after generations of death from it, to it happening while my husband is deployed has felt like a slap in the face only to have it be revealed as a necessary step in the path forward later on. I realize this sounds preachy, and I do not mean to, but between the medicinal studies that we are getting to do and now this one, I cannot see any other way to fix this issue except for someone to have to dive in the muck and get their hands dirty. Since I am the liberal thinking vegetarian, it might as well be me-.
So three more chemos to go and then the surgery and testing in-between is where we stand now. Thank you everyone for the calls, the meals, the cleaning, the driving lessons for Daughter Two (Dad with his life in his hands), and all the things my currently addled brain cannot type right now. Again, things like this bring out the best in people. Some of the best are in my own family, and three of the very best are in my house. My girls do laundry, go to the grocery store, pick up, walk the dogs, and they insist in sleeping in my room and watching over me at night. They have truly learned sacrifice like no other lesson could have taught. I am proud to have an 18-year old that gave up everything that she has worked her entire school career for to stay with her sisters so they would not have to care for me alone despite all my many tears and protests. She put off her scholarships for an entire year and is going to school locally. My mom always emphasized family first, so I guess the good genes got passed down too, and the girls make her proud!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
love is all over the place
lately i've been glaring into mirrors
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age
i'd of thoughtof something better to do
than making insecurity into a full-time job
making insecurity into art
and i fear my life will be over
and i will have never lived unfettered
always glaring into mirrors
mad i don't look better
so i'm beginning to see some problems
with the ongoing work of my mind
and i've got myself a new mantra
it says: "don't forget to have a good time"
don't let the sellers of stuff power enough
to rob you of your grace
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
love is all over the place "
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age
i'd of thoughtof something better to do
than making insecurity into a full-time job
making insecurity into art
and i fear my life will be over
and i will have never lived unfettered
always glaring into mirrors
mad i don't look better
so i'm beginning to see some problems
with the ongoing work of my mind
and i've got myself a new mantra
it says: "don't forget to have a good time"
don't let the sellers of stuff power enough
to rob you of your grace
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
love is all over the place "
The Inspiration
Sometimes it's hard to know what to write about, but you know that you have to write something. I would like to do better- it's some kind of therapy and life is so funny, sweet, sad and crazy.
As I began to write about something else entirely this week, a picture that I recently hung in my house caught my eye. It's from WWII, and it's a saying that was on the posters for the English citizens that they saw as they were headed to the bomb shelters. While this sounds morbid, I find it extremely motivational for the situation that I find myself currently in: "Keep Calm and Carry On."
I have discovered that I have learned something throughout this cancer and deployment journey. ANOTHER thing, if that can be believed. Sometimes panic is overrated. If we wait it out, and ride the tide, things settle down for themselves. Many times life throws the curve balls to us but then we try to see what WILL happen to fix it. I am learning to just wait and see how it will work out. This is a very hard lesson for me. I have always been one to try and predict things, fix them, have a plan....not lately.
I look back and so many things and so many doorways have opened unexpectedly on this journey. Had I panicked, and reacted- NOT stayed the course, that would never have been. I have at LEAST a dozen new friends that will be my friends forever now. My family is closer. My husband and I are more distant in proximity but closer in spirit. My initial reaction sometimes is still to scream and cry and throw a temper tantrum at my circumstances, instead of to look at where I am.
A bad diagnosis? Not feeling well? Haven't heard from my soldier? There is the wall- I look-
I just look at my poster and smile. "Keep Calm and Carry On." It's perfect. I'm glad I can look at that tomorrow. Things are different tomorrow.
As I began to write about something else entirely this week, a picture that I recently hung in my house caught my eye. It's from WWII, and it's a saying that was on the posters for the English citizens that they saw as they were headed to the bomb shelters. While this sounds morbid, I find it extremely motivational for the situation that I find myself currently in: "Keep Calm and Carry On."
I have discovered that I have learned something throughout this cancer and deployment journey. ANOTHER thing, if that can be believed. Sometimes panic is overrated. If we wait it out, and ride the tide, things settle down for themselves. Many times life throws the curve balls to us but then we try to see what WILL happen to fix it. I am learning to just wait and see how it will work out. This is a very hard lesson for me. I have always been one to try and predict things, fix them, have a plan....not lately.
I look back and so many things and so many doorways have opened unexpectedly on this journey. Had I panicked, and reacted- NOT stayed the course, that would never have been. I have at LEAST a dozen new friends that will be my friends forever now. My family is closer. My husband and I are more distant in proximity but closer in spirit. My initial reaction sometimes is still to scream and cry and throw a temper tantrum at my circumstances, instead of to look at where I am.
A bad diagnosis? Not feeling well? Haven't heard from my soldier? There is the wall- I look-
I just look at my poster and smile. "Keep Calm and Carry On." It's perfect. I'm glad I can look at that tomorrow. Things are different tomorrow.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Don't Go There 'Til You Get There
“Don’t Go There ‘Til You Get There”. What a load of crap. My whole life has been spent worrying about what might happen. So I am reading this very odd book- this book that seems to have been left for me. I cannot escape it. Four times it has been left. I have found it four times, in mysterious places, when no one knows where it came from. To me that means pick up the damn thing and see what’s in it. Creepy.
Anyway, this silly message that is against what I tend to practice is in the book. I TRY to be a laid back person, but the funniest part of us “Type A” personalities is that we CANNOT relax and NOT worry about things. We feel as if it’s our job to forsee everything that might happen and prevent it and protect everyone and everything. I got more and more into the reading and it’s a funny, wonderful story of a husband and wife dealing with a disease….hhhmmmm…..It’s about different ways that they cope. I might love it. I wonder why I have it. Maybe I need to worry about that???
I was thinking about this phrase, “Don’t Go There ‘Til You Get There” and it was really bugging me. EATING at me. Since I do not sleep, about 2 am it hit me and I was struck with a fit of laughter. I could worry about several things- war, disease, death….I have been hit with all of these things. None of them are funny, but what the hell am I worried about. I know it can get worse, but I also know that sometimes the things that I have worried about have never happened. What a waste of energy. Usually these lessons that I am taught are fleeting and I have to be somewhat beaten over the head with them, but for now at least I can be amused and astounded. I wonder how the story ends?
Also, how did this book get here? There I go- worrying again. Time to read.
Anyway, this silly message that is against what I tend to practice is in the book. I TRY to be a laid back person, but the funniest part of us “Type A” personalities is that we CANNOT relax and NOT worry about things. We feel as if it’s our job to forsee everything that might happen and prevent it and protect everyone and everything. I got more and more into the reading and it’s a funny, wonderful story of a husband and wife dealing with a disease….hhhmmmm…..It’s about different ways that they cope. I might love it. I wonder why I have it. Maybe I need to worry about that???
I was thinking about this phrase, “Don’t Go There ‘Til You Get There” and it was really bugging me. EATING at me. Since I do not sleep, about 2 am it hit me and I was struck with a fit of laughter. I could worry about several things- war, disease, death….I have been hit with all of these things. None of them are funny, but what the hell am I worried about. I know it can get worse, but I also know that sometimes the things that I have worried about have never happened. What a waste of energy. Usually these lessons that I am taught are fleeting and I have to be somewhat beaten over the head with them, but for now at least I can be amused and astounded. I wonder how the story ends?
Also, how did this book get here? There I go- worrying again. Time to read.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
What Is Beauty?
I have to wonder if sometimes things like cancer or war or other types of devastation are caused so we can see true beauty. Or at least see true beauty in others. Don't get me wrong- I am in no way saying that I am so beautiful, but sometimes an outsider can look inside us and see past our walls and be inspired. In the past three months I have learned more than perhaps my whole life could have taught me, but maybe this was one of the biggest lessons.
I began thinking about the meaning of beauty when I went to a meeting for a company that I do some contract design work for last week. I was coming from my latest round of chemo, and was waiting for it the "fog" to hit. One of the women in the meeting, who barely knew me, was having a bad day. Suddenly she looked at me and told me that I had the most beautiful hair that she had ever seen. I thought she might have been kidding until I realized that she was very self-absorbed and had no idea how bad I was feeling and just started looking at me and then moved on in her thinking. That was all she saw. She didn't realize that I was barely standing up, that I was trying not to vomit, or that I was needing to leave. I guess later on I realized I how bad my skin was looking so my "hair" looked better! When I left, another women, again one that I barely knew, seemed to be moved. She saw my plethora of cancer bracelets (I wear one that everyone has given me for support). She was touched by something she saw inside as well. This women was pulled by an inner beauty inside herself and wanted to do something to help. The first women began to complain about her day almost as soon as I left. The second said," Hey, we have nothing to complain about. Allie is working, her husband is gone, and she didn't utter a word that was negative. We need to follow her example. Didn't you notice the bracelets?" After a few phone calls they figured out what was going on. The next call that I received was an offer from these women to bring me a meal and a hug. The first woman, who had complimented my hair, actually gave me an apology! I was floored. She had made me feel so good, but she had felt so superficial for not seeing what was inside and the struggle that I was having. She turned her day around, and was smiling when I saw her. She began to look for a way to help me, and both of them glowed from the inside. These women showed me what true beauty was. I would never have thought less of them for doing nothing, but when they did I was so grateful.
I was so blessed to have these two in my life that day. They taught me something so important. They taught me to look deeper. Look once, look again, then act. Then pay it forward. I have tried to teach my kids that for every act of kindness we are given that we need to give one to someone in return to someone as well. It might not be the same person that we got it from, but that's ok. Is that what all of this horror is for? Maybe. Maybe that's what my husband is fighting for. Imagine how different things would be over there. Just looking for the beauty in all things is not so hard. It takes an extra second, and it can change a whole perspective. In fact, it can change your life. Is she trying extra hard on the outside because her heart is breaking? Does this one need a kind word, or a card in the mail? Just look for how you can paint the world. Maybe you can help to bring the soldiers home. Maybe you are the cure. You never know!!
I began thinking about the meaning of beauty when I went to a meeting for a company that I do some contract design work for last week. I was coming from my latest round of chemo, and was waiting for it the "fog" to hit. One of the women in the meeting, who barely knew me, was having a bad day. Suddenly she looked at me and told me that I had the most beautiful hair that she had ever seen. I thought she might have been kidding until I realized that she was very self-absorbed and had no idea how bad I was feeling and just started looking at me and then moved on in her thinking. That was all she saw. She didn't realize that I was barely standing up, that I was trying not to vomit, or that I was needing to leave. I guess later on I realized I how bad my skin was looking so my "hair" looked better! When I left, another women, again one that I barely knew, seemed to be moved. She saw my plethora of cancer bracelets (I wear one that everyone has given me for support). She was touched by something she saw inside as well. This women was pulled by an inner beauty inside herself and wanted to do something to help. The first women began to complain about her day almost as soon as I left. The second said," Hey, we have nothing to complain about. Allie is working, her husband is gone, and she didn't utter a word that was negative. We need to follow her example. Didn't you notice the bracelets?" After a few phone calls they figured out what was going on. The next call that I received was an offer from these women to bring me a meal and a hug. The first woman, who had complimented my hair, actually gave me an apology! I was floored. She had made me feel so good, but she had felt so superficial for not seeing what was inside and the struggle that I was having. She turned her day around, and was smiling when I saw her. She began to look for a way to help me, and both of them glowed from the inside. These women showed me what true beauty was. I would never have thought less of them for doing nothing, but when they did I was so grateful.
I was so blessed to have these two in my life that day. They taught me something so important. They taught me to look deeper. Look once, look again, then act. Then pay it forward. I have tried to teach my kids that for every act of kindness we are given that we need to give one to someone in return to someone as well. It might not be the same person that we got it from, but that's ok. Is that what all of this horror is for? Maybe. Maybe that's what my husband is fighting for. Imagine how different things would be over there. Just looking for the beauty in all things is not so hard. It takes an extra second, and it can change a whole perspective. In fact, it can change your life. Is she trying extra hard on the outside because her heart is breaking? Does this one need a kind word, or a card in the mail? Just look for how you can paint the world. Maybe you can help to bring the soldiers home. Maybe you are the cure. You never know!!
Friday, July 4, 2008
How I Feel
WORD OF WARNING...This will not be the most uplifting update.
This is REAL. Cancer is real. I'm still going through it. I have cancer. There, I said it. As I may have been positive throughout my diagnosis, chemo, etc.. and for the most part I still am, there's no denying that it's not the most pleasant experience in the world - physically and psychologically.
My panic attacks from years ago are starting to creep back into my life. Sure it's no wonder, but I wish they would just stop. My blood counts are incredibly low which makes me feel even more terrible. Those are the days I can't function, feel dizzy, can't think straight and can barely get out of bed. Oh yeah, and food tastes like metal - or has no taste at all. The things I enjoy I can barely enjoy anymore. Hopefully in the next few months that will get better.
I've been a bit more depressed, a lot more anxious, and a lot more isolated. For some strange reason (and I've finally opened up about this to other cancer patients) people just disappear. Don't know why. No one does really. This seems to be the norm in a lot of cases and I know I'm not alone in this regard. Maybe people think they don't want to bother me? But this is the time I could use a friendly face or a phone call. I'm here in my house, with chemo, no place to really go and sitting alone with my thoughts while life is happening around me and there's nothing I can do about it. Can't travel right now, can't go to the movies, can't even walk around the block sometimes. What a waste of a summer.. and I feel bad that my kids are stuck in the same position simply because of me.
I'm not trying to guilt anyone here. Really I'm not. If anything I'm embarrassed. But here I am, and I'm not going anywhere... and if anyone would like to reach out, please do so. There's no good way for me to ask this. If for some reason I'm not feeling well or I'm sleeping, I simply won't answer the phone. But otherwise, it's nice to hear people's voices or see their faces once in awhile. It really can uplift the spirit a bit knowing that people are around somewhere. On that note... as a reminder I know I am an extremely strong woman, have been through a lot in my life and I will get through this. But even the strong ones admit they need some reassurance once in awhile... and we all have our bad days. I'm human, even though I do not feel like it, or even look like it. I AM human- right? Are you there? Hello?
This is REAL. Cancer is real. I'm still going through it. I have cancer. There, I said it. As I may have been positive throughout my diagnosis, chemo, etc.. and for the most part I still am, there's no denying that it's not the most pleasant experience in the world - physically and psychologically.
My panic attacks from years ago are starting to creep back into my life. Sure it's no wonder, but I wish they would just stop. My blood counts are incredibly low which makes me feel even more terrible. Those are the days I can't function, feel dizzy, can't think straight and can barely get out of bed. Oh yeah, and food tastes like metal - or has no taste at all. The things I enjoy I can barely enjoy anymore. Hopefully in the next few months that will get better.
I've been a bit more depressed, a lot more anxious, and a lot more isolated. For some strange reason (and I've finally opened up about this to other cancer patients) people just disappear. Don't know why. No one does really. This seems to be the norm in a lot of cases and I know I'm not alone in this regard. Maybe people think they don't want to bother me? But this is the time I could use a friendly face or a phone call. I'm here in my house, with chemo, no place to really go and sitting alone with my thoughts while life is happening around me and there's nothing I can do about it. Can't travel right now, can't go to the movies, can't even walk around the block sometimes. What a waste of a summer.. and I feel bad that my kids are stuck in the same position simply because of me.
I'm not trying to guilt anyone here. Really I'm not. If anything I'm embarrassed. But here I am, and I'm not going anywhere... and if anyone would like to reach out, please do so. There's no good way for me to ask this. If for some reason I'm not feeling well or I'm sleeping, I simply won't answer the phone. But otherwise, it's nice to hear people's voices or see their faces once in awhile. It really can uplift the spirit a bit knowing that people are around somewhere. On that note... as a reminder I know I am an extremely strong woman, have been through a lot in my life and I will get through this. But even the strong ones admit they need some reassurance once in awhile... and we all have our bad days. I'm human, even though I do not feel like it, or even look like it. I AM human- right? Are you there? Hello?
Proud of My Country
I will still be proud of what my country wants to be. I know what it wants to be despite what it keeps falling into. Throught history, we fall into holes, and pull our way out. The first time this happened, when we decided who we were, we wrote a document. It is amazing how timeless it is. There was fighting, and many discussions over what should have been included in this document. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams argued over giving freedom to all men and women and abolishing slavery at the time it was written. They regretted until their deaths that this was not included, and it took a whole new war to make that happen, but we are all Americans, and we are all free. This document was the first of many- it was the first stand. It took months to complete it, and it still reads strong today. Put it in the current political situation and give it a shake:
Text of The Declaration of Independence - 1776In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.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, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offencesFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch,Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carrollof Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot
LeeCarter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew ThorntonWheeler
Text of The Declaration of Independence - 1776In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.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, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offencesFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch,Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carrollof Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot
LeeCarter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew ThorntonWheeler
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
