To try and surmise Liberty as an Element of life, I am hard-pressed to find just one. Liberty is a force that utilizes many elements at Her disposal to bring Freedom into form. This most clearly expresses in a desert monsoon.

I count myself very blessed for having grown up in the desert Southwest where I could see just how determined nature had to be to survive. I grew up witnessing resurrection every summer, seeing how life force can recede deep into the roots beneath the hard-pan soil. To witness resurrection from cracks where you were just sure no life could exist. But then…. the long-awaited deluge arrives and the determined crispy stalks of grass and the antenna-like Ocotillo would swell green to life. The intoxicating aroma of creosote sprays across the newly moistened air and the sounds of hummingbirds dart around the bright, fresh blooms. And yes, even the smell of wet asphalt becomes cause for celebration. The cool winds and rains drench not only the land, but our souls. This is what Freedom feels like in the desert.

Liberty. She births such Freedom as a monsoon.

A total orchestration of elements at play – air, water, fire, earth – Liberty takes form as the invisible conductor that gathers and builds these magical elements together to release the life-giving waters. The waters of Freedom.

Air of the desert sky, filled with the dust of the Earth, creates the canvass for some of the most jeweled sunsets anywhere. One can witness the light paint a new portrait upon these dust particles in the evening before the blanket of stars fill the night sky with glistening diamonds. Though the desert has a good percentage of its earth in the sky, it takes only one good storm to bring that dust back to the ground. If the conditions aren’t right, however, sometimes the rain never makes it to the ground because the air is so hot and dry, it just drinks it in before the Earth below gets its share.

Upon the air, Liberty scours the atmosphere for water particles to share over the desert. She sweeps up the water of the skies into the billowy clouds. From one corner of the sky to the other, you can see her force build the clouds until they are dark and fat with water. You can feel the air cool with promise at the release. Then, when all is in alignment, the thunder-call of her command summons the Fire of lightning to split open the clouds. It is here, in this electric moment, that we see Liberty tangibly offer the rain to bring Freedom to all the life that awaits it. This is the magic that resurrects life in the desert.

This is the magic that America needs now.

We can see how freely Liberty expresses her power in nature – in a cracking egg, in a splitting seed, in an opening cocoon. But, in a desert storm, we can witness all the elements working together to bring freedom to the scorched land below. But what elements does Liberty need to work together to exist in our government?

What elements do we require to bring forth the fragrance of freedom for America today? What elements do we need to resurrect? To wash away? What conditions need to exist to bring down the rains of change upon our parched American heart?

Whatever solutions are offered, they are all doomed to fail if they aren’t presented from the heart of a conscience citizen and civil servant. For, as Thoreau offered, “a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.” Until our government becomes such a corporation of conscientious individuals, we will continue to toil under the tyranny of shadowy corruption – a mere reflection of the shadowy hearts of those in power.

So, I say, let it rain!

Whatever we need to do as individuals to foster a more conscientious awareness of ourselves and our society, let us do. Let us work together as the elements of a desert storm, trusting Liberty as the maestro.

Let us unite by focusing on what we value most as Americans- the Freedoms granted us by our Constitution’s Bill of Rights – rather than tear each other apart in opposition to anything that erodes our rights as citizens. For this too, my friends, is also a tactic of the shadowy sinister forces at work. Whatever Constitutional elements Liberty needs to express in our government to shower Freedom to the thirsty citizens, let them come into alignment so that she can split those clouds open and let Freedom rain!

Let Freedom reign!