The message from our head Monk on this sacred American Day

Here is a synopsis of what was shared at the temple this week by our head Monk to a largely Vietnamese audience. I thought some here might find it interesting to see it from another viewpoint:

Be grateful and humble for America. We are blessed beyond measure to be here , where we can speak freely without fear of reprisal. He then told a story about being with Representative Cassidy this week and seeing a very angry person screaming and insulting him, while the Congressman patiently listened , showing no anger in return. This would be impossible in Vietnam. And we should be grateful to be in such a place.

Pray for Vietnam . Things are very hard there, Communism is extremely oppressive, there is no equal justice,many people are suffering, there is very little freedom and you must always be careful to not say the wrong thing to the wrong person or your life can be very bad. How fortunate we are. Pray and work that the people of Vietnam will someday have similar freedom, which seems so impossible now.

We must remember that we have a duty to give back to America in proportion to what we have received. We all have a duty to work hard and contribute and make our new country a better place. We are lucky to be here, and many of us have family members who died getting here , and we must honor their effort and memory.

Because things in America are very heated now, we must be mindful to avoid anger , being unkind and participating in activities that increase disharmony and weaken America . We must be good natured and help our neighbors even if we disagree with them . America is a country where individual opinions are valued and we must respect the opinions of others and be compassionate in our daily life with those who are not at peace and have anger.

There was more, but those were the main 4th of July points. Imho, it would be beneficial to almost everyone to talk with immigrants about our many American blessings on days like this. Happy July 4th all.