She doesn't look too bad at 231 years old. Yeah, she's got some battle scars. She's a little rough edges from time to time. And her family doesn't necessarily treat her right all the time, but the United States of America turned 231 this July 4th.
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As with every 4th of July, there are people who truly do recognize the symbolism of this holiday -- and show their patriotism. For many people though, it's just a day off of work.
(Granted I did enjoy my day off of work. We grilled out and ate some hot dogs and some hamburgers, and went to see some fireworks)
But I wish more people would recognize the 4th for what it truly is. I wish on this day each year that every American would take time to recognize that the freedoms and liberties we enjoy as Americans are due to the people who 231 years ago signed their names on a document that turned them all into traitors in the eyes of the British crown and essentially laid down bounties on each of their heads (There was a great editorial in the Asheville Citizen Times yesterday about this); because of the more than 1 million American service members since that day who have given their lives in the defense of that freedom; and even because of each and every patriotic American who casts their vote for our legislators.
I wish so many things for this country and it's people. But we're 300 million sisters and brothers who don't see eye to eye and are not perfect. We don't all agree. We can be a factionalized bunch and are always split on issues -- from Iraq, to the environment, to family values. We try to tackle domestic issues and we make mistakes. We try to tackle international issues and we make mistakes. But we do things right also. We don't all get along. And we never will. The fact that we are all so different and we want different things for our country, yet we all have the ability to affect change in it is what sets us apart from every other nation in the world. That is the beauty of America. It's kind of a paradox.
231 years ago 56 men who led ordinary lives did something extraodinary. They put their own lives on the line so that the promise of a new nation, of new freedoms for generations and generations to come, could be born. I just wish I could travel back in time and thank each and every one of them.
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