Man On Fire 1776

I was so blessed to have them in my life. They were Christians and 2nd Generation Americans of Spanish, Native, and Portuguese descent. They believed in traditional family values, and they taught me the importance of hard work.

They encouraged financial responsibility...and that through sheer determination, you can accomplish anything even in the face of great adversity.

They would know...my grandmother was born during the Great Depression. My grandfather had a 6th-grade education and could barely read and write in English or Spanish. He grew up with his many siblings in a literal DIY home that had tires on the roof to keep the storms from blowing it off. It had a dirt floor and an outhouse.

He got his first job at 16 and worked hard his entire life for everything he had. He was almost denied a loan from the bank to purchase the lot where he built our family home because of his Spanish surname. They understood that obstacles in life were nothing outside of God's hands, and those blessings were theirs if they chose to claim them.

My grandfather started his own business and built many beautiful homes and structures in the Tucson area as a mason and general contractor. My grandmother worked supporting her community in local schools and hospitals. They both told me to always give 110% in everything I did, and that hard work would pay off in the end.

Boy, how I wish I had listened...

They say you can never go home again...

I never understood, so profoundly, what those words meant. Until I was sitting in my room at my grandparent's home after they had both passed away. I couldn't call them or go see them or ask them for advice. My grandfather didn't just build a house, but a home full of love, light, and encouragement. He held on to his faith and loved my grandmother with everything he had for 66 years until Alzheimer's took her from us.

He wasn't a man of many words, but the few times he felt it necessary to speak, but boy did he make it count. I learned a lot from him about how to be a man, never having my father in my life, he was the only example I had.

My emotions often had the best of me because of the trauma of my past. It took a long time for me to start reconsidering my values as a man, as an American, and as a human being. Looking back, I wish I had listened to my grandfather and not let the world influence me.

We naturally want to rebel when we are in our youth. It's said that wisdom comes from experience, but that experience is often a result of a lack of wisdom. Experience has taught me that my grandparents were right, and now I want to live up to their legacy.

My grandparents lived in a nation that didn't view them as equal just 2 generations before mine. They still loved this country, and America is our home. It took 3 generations to establish a cultural identity here as Latinos.

We are all equal now. We are not a sub group or second class citizens.

We ARE Americans.

We are strong...we are proud...and FREEDOM is OUR HERITAGE.

We have a right to LIFE. Not abortions...

We have the right to freedom of speech and religion. Not restrictions on how we can express who we are or how we worship our Creator...

We have a right to bear arms in self-defense only. Not disarming our people...

(BTW they've tried that in every Latin country in the western hemisphere and it DOESN'T work)

When Benjamin Franklin exited the house where our Nation's forefathers drafted the Bill of Rights, he was asked a question by an inquisitive woman. As he shuffled down the streets of Philadelphia, she said: "What have you given us, Mr. Franklin?" To which the statesman replied, "A Republic madam. If you can keep it..."

The word Republic itself is a Latin word derived from REZ (entity/concern/thing) and PUBLICO (the people) or "The thing of the people." This is why our Nation's most precious document, the U.S. Constitution's preamble, starts with the phrase... "We the people..."

There is a particular set of values that unite us as a collection of individuals in this GREAT Nation. Those values are coming under attack now by an agenda to change the heritage my grandparents' generation fought to give us. In an attempt to once again designate us into a collection of groups or classes.

We cannot allow this to happen.

The more substantial danger of disregarding our collective value system means the revoking of our individual human rights. Yes...these rights and values are not American, Christian, Republican, or Conservative. These are human values and human rights that, according to our Constitution, are endowed upon us by a Creator and are inalienable.

Even if you don't believe in God, take it as "...you exist...you are a human. These are your rights. Fight to protect them." At the VERY least, please don't vote for people who are telling you they are going to take them from you.

These rights are NOT revocable privileges that can be voted upon and taken away at the whims of the masses. These are not granted by government, rulers, or even by reason. They are forever yours from the moment you started existing, and it should not be in anyone's power to take them from you. Period.

Albert Einstein who was a Jewish physicist who helped the United States in their war against Hitler's N**i machine in Europe once stated that "The strength of the (U.S.) Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty-bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure."

As I grow older and more concerned about the heritage, I will be passing down to my daughter. I feel an ever-pressing need to live up to my grandparent's and ancestors' legacy to fight for equality and human rights.

I often wonder what will happen when my daughter who is mixed, will come in contact with the people promoting this pro-establishment, anti-human agenda. Will she be asked to stand against prejudice, and then coerced into voting based on her gender or skin color and NOT her values?

We must prepare our children for such an event because if we are not instilling values in our children daily, someone else will. Hollywood, culture, media, and our government ran educational institutions will grab a hold of their consciousness and mold them to their will.

The conversations I will have with my daughter at home daily will be the same my grandparents had with me. We will focus on our values and not our skin color.

Our values are our heritage.

The establishment is a godless, gutless machine. The establishment cannot erase our skin color, but it can erase our history and replace it with a watered-down version of events that suits their narrative. To convince us we are a minority in our own country. To belittle us and feed our insecurities and destroy our people’s self-esteem.

We are Americans. We are the people. The people are the majority. This realization makes us a threat to the establishment and to those who seek to control us.

I recently met the great-grandson of Guillermo Prieto. The Mexican Novelist who wrote The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 that established the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the right to bear arms. He told me America was the place that looked like how his great grandfather and grandfather envisioned for the Mexican people.

They would have been disappointed with what Mexico has become. A nation that has lost all of its freedoms. Where 40% of the people are plunged into extreme poverty because they did not protect their Constitution. They voted for politicians who offered them safety, security, and prosperity in exchange for their constitutional rights.

The values and freedoms we have as Americans are the same that were stolen by tyrants and dictators in our ancestors' homeland. This is the reason we still have an influx of immigrants from Latin-American countries, and the rest of the world. Fighting to come to America. To experience those human rights and values that have been taken from them in their nations of origin.

They come here to share a common dream with us of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We must then protect the Constitution so that it may always be a source of refuge for those seeking an opportunity to share the American dream.

To serve as a guiding light for those who struggle to fight and win back their rights in whatever place they call home. We must preserve it for our brothers and sisters, for our countrymen, and for future generations of Americans. Lest they wake up one day finding themselves homeless in the Nation they inherited from us.

So help us, God.

It is with this revelation in my heart and mind that I have been put on a new path in life and set ablaze. I am the man on fire. I will fight to defend the Republic. This is my legacy.