It's Bastille Day!  As I write this, French people the world over are celebrating the day in July 1789 when cries for freedom from the tyranny of the French monarchy (and its minions) finally erupted for the latter to see.  Long the symbol of the monarchy's iron grip on power, the Bastille was an fitting place for the Revolution to begin.  And begin it did.

     Yes, the French Revolution was rather bloody, and yes, it killed many innocent people.  No argument there.  Inspired as it was by the American Revolution, however, the French Revolution signaled to the "powers that be" (as the late David Halberstram put it) that from this day forward the lower classes would no longer simply accept their lot and move through life accordingly.  From this day forward, they would seek a greater destiny.  After all, they asserted, they, too, are beings of immense marvel and potential.

     The French Revolution also served notice to the oligarchies of the world (which continue to rule the world today), that their responsibility was not only to themselves.  Of what value is an oligarch's wealth if it is not directed toward the common good?

     We are not here for ourselves.  We are here for each other.

     Although the French Revolution was decidedly secular, it nonetheless demonstrated, whether it intended to or not, that in the biggest possible picture, in a world that God made there is room for everyone to be whom he or she is destined to be.  Everyone.