This year we have; a poor economy, high unemployment, increasing gasoline prices, a wobbling war and the list goes on and on. There is plenty of reason to hang our heads, plenty of reason to despair. So where is the positive part?
Independence day should be a reminder, not only of the birth of the greatest country the world has ever witnessed, but also the fourth of July is about perseverance through difficult times.
At the time The Declaration of Independence was being signed, Boston was occupied, British ships were near Manhattan and the Continental Congress had recently concluded a long and heated debate over ratification of this volatile declaration. While there was already a war, this one act of defiance would heighten the battles and cost thousands of lives. Six years later Benjamin Rush wrote,
“Do you remember the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress to subscribe to what was believed by many to be our own death warrants?”
The result of these men acting in such a way was just as uncertain as any time in the history of our country. What we do know today is that our country has withstood greater challenges than those of today. We can also take comfort that the institutions which keep our country intact have not been forgotten.
I believe that the best days of the United States of America are not behind us, but are ahead of us. Our greatest leaders rejected pessimism, embraced the belief in the American individual and stood as stewards of a blessed land’s exceptional place in history and the future.
So this Independence Day, remember that you are a citizen of unique and wondrous nation.
Happy Fourth of July.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
