A couple of out-of-state friends of ours recently visited us here in Virginia and it got me to thinking about my home state. As the title above suggests, Virginia is one of four states also called commonwealths, with the others being Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. And it is known as the mother of presidents given that eight were born here, including founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

While I’ve yet to visit James Madison’s home of Montpelier, as an alum of his namesake university I am very familiar with the school motto attributed to him: “Knowledge is Liberty.” And since he is considered the father of America’s Constitution, my diploma proudly records that I graduated during the bicentennial year of the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson is known as the author of the Declaration of Independence but a lesser known fact is he founded the University of Virginia, which he also had noted on his gravestone. And at the founding of the school, he declared: “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind, for here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

Note that these founders stressed “knowledge is liberty” and “the illimitable freedom of the human mind.” With these grand thoughts in mind, I highly recommend getting yourself a pocket copy of both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, as I have done. And as the Virginia state seal above reminds us all: “Sic Semper Tyrannis” or “Thus Always to Tyrants.”

For more related commentary I welcome you to check out my earlier post titled Thinking About Thinking. And I close here with what is commonly called The Virginia Creed: “To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one’s Mother’s side, is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above.”