Our forefathers bravely forged a new world for the New World, giving birth to this sweet land of liberty we used to sing about a lot more than we do in the 21st century.
We are reminded today should be about more than just hamburgers and hot dogs, skiing at the lake and shooting off what fireworks we can afford. There's nothing wrong with any of that, of course. Letting freedom ring means we get to do whatever it is we want to do on this national holiday. A celebration of our independence depends more on what we do the other 364 days of the year as it does on this one day set aside to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
What’s The Point?
Celebrate the Fourth of July with a renewed commitment to advancing the cause of liberty and appreciate the gift of living in the United States of America.
Loving freedom is a 24/7, 356-day-a-year American tradition. We celebrate the nation because the Founding Fathers (and the women without whom this nation would not have flourished) recognized a standard of liberty and established a system they hoped would preserve it. Without liberty, this nation is nothing.
"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle," said George William Curtis, an American writer and public speaker.
Let us all embrace a form of patriotism that views liberty as essential to the human experience. Let no one be fooled into believing liberty is a natural outcome of the governance of man. One need only look beyond our borders -- and sometimes within -- to see just how brutal and unjust humans can be to each other. A nation that stands for liberty mustn't rest on what a group of radicals in the 1700s accomplished, but make choices every day that strengthen the commitment to, and the advancement of, freedom.
Of course, our nation is imperfect. Of course, our leaders are flawed. Of course, there are examples in our 238-year history when our acts have not lived up to our ideals. All this leads some to embrace a cynical view of American exceptionalism, that our nation is nothing more or less than any other.
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty," President John F. Kennedy told the world. He knew what the United States meant.
Do we still feel that way, deeply in our souls?
This nation is something to be proud of, in its ideals if not always in its execution.
"Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be," said the actor John Wayne.
We're not proclaiming blind loyalty as a virtue. But let's embrace a nation conceived in liberty. Accept a citizen's everyday responsibility to strengthen these United States of America. Let's give up apathy.
It matters that we care about such things, not just in the wake of an attack on buildings in New York, but in our individual identity and acts as American citizens.
Happy Fourth of July. May our nation and her people be worthy of the mantle of liberty passed on by our forefathers.
Commentary on 07/04/2014