Plymouth Monument Stands as a Beacon [PHIL-OSOPHY]

Exactly 400 years ago today, December 18, a small congregation of God-fearing religious radicals who had escaped from Europe to the New World stepped ashore in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the hopes of bringing into existence a more spiritual, moral and wise society.

The famous Mayflower story is key to understanding our way out of our nation's troubles and setbacks. In Plymouth, overlooking the ocean and peering towards Plymouth, England, stands what's thought to be the world's largest, not attached, solid-granite monument in the world, and yet surprisingly unknown! Created as a testimonial to the Pilgrims, the 81-foot tall National Monument to the Forefathers provides us with the framework of fixing the issues and perplexities tearing apart America.

Boston sculptor Hammatt Billings created the commemorative, which shows allegorical or symbolic, non-literal, figures portraying the value-system of: Faith, Morality, Education, Law and Liberty. John Adams pretty much summed it up neatly when he said that our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people, and his cousin, Sam, agreed that morals and religion are the cornerstones of liberty and happiness. How many times have you heard people say that if we only could live by the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, things would be so much better for us all?

So after spending years observing what's happening in America, that monument is my best answer as to what can get us moving in a stronger direction. The only appeal I ask is that you read more about that octagonal memorial on your own.

In the present climate, if we exercise the same principles that are spelled out on Plymouth's Pilgrim Monument, we can expect the same productive results as our forefathers.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.