28 March 2011

Be careful what you wish for . . .


I read an article recently about our National Motto. It made me wonder what other countries have as their National Motto. Here are a few countries you will recognize.

  • Empire of Japan: 八紘一宇 All the world under one roof
  • India: सत्यमेव जयते: Truth alone triumphs
  • Iran: God is the Greatest
  • Iraq: الله أكبر God is the Greatest
  • North Korea: 강성대국 (强盛大國 Prosperous and great country
  • South Korea: 홍익인간 (弘益人間 Benefit all mankind
  • Nicaragua: En Dios Confiamos In God We Trust

Our motto was first placed on coins by the U.S. Treasury in 1864, during the Civil War. In 1955, Congress passed a bill to have the motto placed on paper currency, and it first appeared on bills two years later.


I really love the look of U.S. currency with its classic design. All the bills are the same size.

The Euro is very colorful, but I'm getting used to not thinking of it as play money. All the bills are not the same size either. The 5 is smaller than the 10, the 10 is smaller than the 20, etc. We had to get new wallets so the money wouldn't stick out the top.


You've got to admit it feels like there should be a game board or at least some dice to go with it. There are colorful pictures on the Euros, but no extra words on front or back.


This is a picture of 1€ and 2€ coins. We wonder how we lived without them. If you ever get the chance to try this again, do it. Change is difficult and you'll have to get rid of that paper alternative, but they really are better - in my opinion.

In 1956, U.S. Congress passed a resolution declaring "In God We Trust" the national motto. In that same article I read, this excerpt from a letter written over a hundred years ago, was quoted:

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, wrote
in a Nov. 11, 1907 letter:
"My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. A beautiful and solemn sentence such as the one in question should be treated and uttered only with that fine reverence which necessarily implies a certain exaltation of spirit. Any use which tends to cheapen it, and above all, any use which tends to secure its being treated in a spirit of levity, is from every standpoint profoundly to be regretted. "
I've looked at these kinds of things from different perspectives. I hope we all have. I'll always be a proponent of separation of church and state. Whether I want to worship or not is currently up to me. What I also want is for whomever wants to worship to be free to do so.

And not at the expense of anyone else's liberty.

Some countries don't have a national motto. Something to consider.

But if there is to be one, it's hard to say which one I prefer . . .

France's "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

or

South Korea's "Benefit All Mankind"?

Maybe South Africa's "Unity in Diversity"

or

Turkey's "Peace in the homeland, peace in the world"?

Perhaps Vietnam says it best . . . "Independence, Liberty and Happiness".

That pretty much covers it.

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