Privacy Plus+: Faith, Liberty and Thanksgiving
Privacy Plus+
Privacy, Technology and Perspective
Faith, Liberty and Thanksgiving. This week, mindful of Thanksgiving, we take a quiet moment to reflect on the fidelity that we all owe to the Constitution, to the rule of law, and to our nation. We know of no better expression of that faith than Judge Learned Hand’s short address on “The Spirit of Liberty,” delivered in New York in 1944, an excerpt of which follows:
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten - that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side-by-side with the greatest. And now in that spirit, that spirit of an American which has never been, and which may never be - nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americans create it - yet in the spirit of America which lies hidden in some form in the aspirations of us all; in the spirit of that America for which our young men are at this moment fighting and dying; in that spirit of liberty and of America so prosperous, and safe, and contented, we shall have failed to grasp its meaning, and shall have been truant to its promise, except as we strive to make it a signal, a beacon, a standard to which the best hopes of mankind will ever turn; In confidence that you share that belief, I now ask you to raise you hand and repeat with me this pledge:
I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands—One nation, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Judge Hand’s complete address, is available at the following link:
https://www.btboces.org/Downloads/1_The%20Spirit%20of%20Liberty%20by%20Learned%20Hand.pdf
Happy Thanksgiving.
Hosch & Morris, PLLC is a Dallas-based boutique law firm dedicated to data protection, privacy, the Internet and technology. Open the Future℠.