Happy Fourth of July!

It's Independence Day in the United States of America!  I haven't posted on the Fourth of July for a couple of years now.  I'm not really sure why, so today I wanted to revisit my post from July 4, 2018.  I think the words are just as relevant today as they were seven years ago.  I am sharing them almost verbatim, with a few modifications and updates.

Today is the day we celebrate the founding of our great country.  Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Over the years, our family has celebrated the Fourth of July in a number of ways - watching parades in places such as Coronado Island (California), Jacksonville (North Carolina), Cincinnati (Ohio), and most recently, Highland Park (Illinois).  We have watched fireworks while laying down on a beach in Guam, from the hood of our car in downtown Indianapolis, or while sitting in a park in downtown Loveland, Ohio.  We have had cook-outs, family reunions, family baseball games, and water balloon fights.  On our first Independence Day in Highland Park, we watched and listened to the local news with sadness and fear after learning that one man with a gun shot and killed seven innocent victims and wounded dozens more during our new home's annual Fourth of July parade.  Regardless of where we have been, what we have done, or how we have celebrated the many Fourths over the years (even the one on July 4, 2022), one thing has stayed consistent - our love for this country.

We have challenges in America today.  There are those who would say that America is going through one of the most difficult periods in all of our history.  There are those who say that we are no longer great.  As I shared in a recent post a month or so ago, there's good evidence that America has some long standing challenges that need to be addressed.  There are those who claim that America's best days are behind us and not ahead of us.  Many of our citizens have been embarrassed or downright shamed by things that our current leaders have done or have said (or have posted on social media). 

To all of us who wish for more stability and hope for better days ahead, I would say one thing.  Our country - our nation - is so much more than our leaders.  We, all of us, are America.  And if we hold together, if we stay true to the ideals of our founders and the patriots of the past, we will continue to be America.  Perhaps that is why the Fourth remains one of my favorite holidays.  The Fourth of July is symbolic of these ideals.  Justice.  Duty.  Selflessness. Honor.  We are America because together, we choose to be something better and greater than we can be alone.  We are America because together, we choose to be united in these ideals. 

I love this country.  I am still proud to be an American.  I still believe that our best days lie in front of us, not in back of us.  Today, I ask God to bless each and everyone one of us, as Americans.  Happy Fourth of July!