Murphy: From sea to shining sea

Posted: July 3, 2011 - 11:07pm  |  Updated: July 7, 2011 - 7:45am

Before Barack Obama, before Bill Gates, before Ronald Reagan or Elvis or Martin Luther King, before Faulkner or Einstein or Edison or the Wright brothers or Mark Twain, before even Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson, there was the Tree.

The Angel Oak is a massive live oak near Charleston. Moss-draped, thick branches stretching out hundreds of feet from its gargantuan trunk, it has stood firmly rooted in the rich coastal earth for 600 years - the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi.

It was a century old before Columbus ever dropped anchor in the Caribbean.

Think about that for a moment.

We think a 100-year-old man is old. But to the Tree, a person who has lived a century is a mere afterthought, a few sunrises and sunsets in a thousand years of the Tree's existence before the man's flickering light is snuffed out.

Which is why we should celebrate the United States' 235 years of existence this July Fourth with sincere gratitude. We should thank God for our nation and for what it stands for.

For this country is a miracle. In what amounts to a mere sliver of human history, America has changed the world.

In 1776, the world was largely ruled by kings and queens, leaders chosen by birthright and not merit. The largest and most powerful monarchy at that time was Great Britain, a nation which held sway over much of the globe by virtue of its wealth and unchallenged military might.

And yet, despite Britain's great power, despite its thousand-plus years of existence, a handful of principled men in 13 poor colonies in North America risked everything - their property, their families, and even their very lives - to stand up for what they thought was right. And on July 4, 1776, 56 of those men signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia - an act of war which instantly made them traitors to the British crown.

Indeed, Ben Franklin remarked, after John Hancock dipped his quill into the ink and became the first to sign the Declaration, "Now we must all hang together, or we shall surely all hang separately."

Against overwhelming odds, fielding an army composed of farmers and tradesmen, America prevailed - and the rest is history.

Our birth as a nation transformed the globe. Thomas Jefferson's immortal words - "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal" - resonated with people everywhere.

America became the land of opportunity, a land where one's ambitions were only limited by one's skill and one's capacity for hard work. The freedoms espoused by those bold men who founded this nation broke the shackles of thousands of years of human existence.

More than 1.3 million Americans have died in defense of our country, and though those deaths caused pain and heartache to their families and loved ones, their deaths were not in vain. Indeed, they were honorable sacrifices that allowed us to maintain the freedoms we all cherish.

On this Independence Day, when you and your family members are eating your hot dogs and hamburgers, and when fireworks spill "the rocket's red glare" across the nighttime sky, I'd ask you all to pause for a moment and thank God for the miracle that is this great nation.

In a few hundred years, America has given the world the electric light, the automobile, the television, the computer and the Internet. It has exterminated vermin like Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. It has defended the rights of men and women to pursue their dreams without fear of persecution.I looked upon the Angel Oak recently and marveled at all that it has seen. What a different place the world is now than it was when that great tree first sprouted in the maritime forest of what would someday be coastal South Carolina all those years ago!

As I stood beneath its sprawling canopy, I gained a greater understanding of the ephemeral nature of human existence - and of the phenomenal changes that were wrought in just a few short years by a group of dedicated men and women who simply believed in doing what was right, above all else.

That insight has given me a lasting appreciation for what it means to be an American. We live in the greatest country this world has ever known. That is not exaggeration or jingoistic hyperbole; it is absolute fact. And we should thank God for that fact every single day, not just one day a year.




Comments (5) Add comment
Geechee 07/04/11 - 11:46 am
Angel Oak... pretty awesome. I used to visit it regularly when I lived on James Island in the early 70's. Angel Oak is located on John's Island and was surprisingly accessible at the time. Located on a dirt road, you just drove up and there it was. From the refuse around the tree, it was obviously a place to party (teenagers?).

After moving away for a number of years, I returned to visit the tree. I don't know if the partying had gotten out of hand, but there was a fence around Angel Oak blocking the view. I was reminded of an old Joni MItchell song, "Big Yellow Taxi." The lyrics went, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot, they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum and they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em."

There was a sign on the fence with the admission charge.

JohnsIslander 07/05/11 - 07:42 am
Angel Oak

This was a great article that really tied everything about being an American together. Now consider this...if there were much less forest and 630 condo/apartments and many square feet of retail space on all three currently forested sides of this small 2 acre park, could this article have been written? Would the experience of standing under the Angel Oak mean as much? That is exactly what a developer and the city of Charleston has planned for her.

contrarian 07/05/11 - 08:19 am
Hey Dr. Mark.....

Next time, how about penning something about....oh, I dunno....SAVANNAH!? I mean, this is the Savannah paper & it appears you live in Savannah. Let the Chucktonians deal with their own issues.

Mark E. Murphy
Mark E. Murphy 07/05/11 - 08:34 pm

Seriously? I'm restricted to writing about Savannah, and Savannah alone, on July 4?

With all due respect, writing a column about what it means to be American is pretty dang topical on July 4. And the last time I checked, Angel Oak is still in America--even if it is on the other side of the river.

I'm not trying to fight any battles for the Chucktonians (I like the designation, though--never heard that!).

However, I can say that although our port is kicking their port's butt, the "Chucktonians" overall seem a lot more organized and a great deal less provincial than we do. I have some suspicion that this has to do with our city government, which has failed to impress me with even marginal competence. And yes, I'm a native Savannahian--lived here almost all of my life. But my long-term residence here has not blinded me to the inherent realities of our government's fairly consistent idiocy.

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