Please have a safe and enjoyable holiday. Issan-ji Temple/HSZC will be closed July 2nd through the 4th, reopening the 5th of July in observance of this holiday.
William Ralph Emerson — A Nation’s Strength —
What makes a nation’s pillars high
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng
And its foundations strong
It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.
Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.
And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.
Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly…
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.