Beginning a new class this week on our government and elections I thought I might reflect on our Bill of Rights over the next few weeks and its meaning to us as world citizens and life-long students.  Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence wrote that “all men have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” borrowing Locke’s well known phrase, but replacing “property” with “the pursuit of happiness.”  Noting the original Lockean phrasing, it is important to understand that property, as defined by James Madison, was the “dominion which one man claims and exercises.”  Property can and does exist in one’s mind, just as strongly as it exists in one’s possessions.  So in keeping we understand one’s beliefs are property.  Jefferson thus rightly noted, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God.”  His neighbor held his own property of thought that did not interfere with Jefferson’s ability to mold his own mind.  Jefferson’s liberality came with a deep appreciation and understanding.  They were both men, and they both possessed property in their beliefs.  Today that understanding may come with acknowledging our similarities, for instance Jesus is a Prophet of Islam, and in order to be a good Christian you first must be a good Jew. Understanding is absent, however, when a coach is counseled for praying before a game, a child is bullied for saying grace before lunch, or someone is thought not to deserve religious freedom when they do not have a faith.  Emerson, in perhaps his most widely known essay “Self-Reliance” preached that, “nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”  He counseled us to beware of conformity and consistency.  A student of Jefferson and Emerson, one might question our rules of conformity and consistency at the New York Military Academy but those rules never impede on a strong mind and an open heart – those are key to our “pursuit of happiness” and essential in our education.  — Christine C. McDonald, Dean of Academics