2023 past president’s page

Compatriots,

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you as your Mecklenburg Chapter president for 2023. Not only is it an honor, but also a privilege, especially as I look back at the many fine gentlemen who have preceded me in this role.

Our chapter is blessed with a wonderful Board of Managers, selected by you, who are dedicated to seeing Mecklenburg continue to thrive in 2023.

What does 2023 look like for Mecklenburg Chapter? If I may paraphrase the SAR’s goals, we are committed to:

• honoring our patriot ancestors whose struggles during the Revolution earned us our freedom,
• promoting the values that they bequeathed us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights,
• and supporting programs, particularly among the youth of this country, to educate our citizens about theses American ideals and what it takes to maintain them.

Mecklenburg is a large chapter, 160 members strong and growing, a chapter well equipped to meet these challenges. But to do so, it takes involved members. I would encourage each of you to search your hearts and ask yourselves “What are my skills? How may I use them to support the SAR’s mission? At a time when we see constant assaults on our American ideals, can I make a difference?”

I cannot answer the first two questions, but I can certainly answer the last one. Yes, you can. You can make a difference.

If this sounds like a call to service, it is. Many of our members have answered that call by serving in the military or becoming first responders, some by running for public office and serving their communities, even becoming well-informed citizens that are there every time the polls open so that they might cast their vote.

American citizens have been answering the call to service since the 18th century.

It is truly staggering to consider what those men and women faced 250 years ago when they undertook to fight for and establish this country. Against the greatest odds imaginable, they prevailed in gaining independence from Great Britain, and having prevailed, they turned right around and succeeded in creating something entirely new, a federal democratic republic. It was something unheard of at the time, and despite their differences, and there were many, as Providence would have it, they found a way to overcome their differences and create these United States.

It is our responsibility as members of the SAR to keep that spirit alive. And together we can.

I would like to close with one of my favorite quotes. It was the Greek philosopher Plutarch (46-119) who said, “It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.” And it is indeed for their glory that we must put forth our effort to ensure that the light of freedom continues to blaze forth as a beacon to the world.

Huzzah!

Yours in liberty,

James Gregory Catledge, President
Mecklenburg Chapter, NCSSAR
704-618-2665