Oops, I forgot. A little thing called OATH...

IT HAPPENS TO THE BEST OF US. Sometimes we make a casual promise, or just express an intention to do something. Then we forget. Sometimes we even want to forget what we promised if it no longer suits us. Not relevant any more, we might say. No harm done if we just set it aside. Life goes on and sometimes others ignore our dereliction. Sometimes it comes back to haunt us, but we may still shrug it off. But then there are other times when we take an oath, a solemn oath, an oath that entitles us to privileges and burdens us with responsibilities. This solemn pronouncement, the oath we swear, usually using a religious book as our witness, is a little different. Actually a whole lot different. Not everyone sees it way, though. When asked whether they will honor the oath they took in the presence of the whole world as witness, they might shrug their shoulders. What's an oath between friends, they might think. They didn't really mean it that way, they might suggest. Look there are bigger issues they have to deal with then being commandeered by a few words likes "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of ...., and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Just a few words, we might think. Then one day we are asked if we will abide by our oath. Oh yeah, that oath. Well, not quite sure. May be or may be not! Humm... Wouldn't it be nice if the oath was inscribed at the entrance to the office of the ones who take such an oath? Wouldn't it be nice if each person taking that oath was expected to recite it every morning? Carry it in their pockets or purses? Have a ceremony to retake the oath every year, to refresh their commtment to it, perhaps? Too much to ask, you say. Imagine the damage, the unimaginable consequences of "forgetting" the oath, the consequences of not living by the oath - an oath that binds those who govern and ones who are governed, those who make the rules and those who are ruled by those rules. The oath that binds... that little thing called an OATH! Your thoughts?