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Rev. Dana McLean Greely, second from right in civil rights demonstration, in Selma, Alabama, 1965

We each have a measure of freedom
To do as we will.
We can debase our life or dignify it;
We can fill it with doubt or faith,
And with hate or love.
We can disavow our heritage or proclaim it.

In as much as we are free to think and act,
We may seem to have broken away from nature.
But I believe that is part of nature’s design.
Wholly within nature, human nature is in the making.
It has risen above the beast,
But its destiny is nearer to the stars.

By Rev. Dana McLean Greely (1908-1986), from his book Forward Through the Ages, published by First Parish in Concord in 1986.