John Adams, writing in the very year of the Declaration of Independence, pretty much laid out how we should celebrate the Fourth of July.
“It ought to be commemorated as a day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty,” the future president wrote in a letter to his wife. “It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.”
Locally, the celebrations will include music, fireworks, parades, ball games and picnics.
The Fourth of July, although a time to celebrate with picnics and fireworks, is also a day to reflect, rejoice and reconsider anew the United States of America and the freedom we enjoy.
America is many things. It is the world’s longest enduring republic, the most diverse country on earth, the most prosperous, and a nation, where we enjoy many freedoms — some we abuse, and many we take for granted.
The people who settled this country in the beginning came for religious freedom and for economic reasons. They endured hardship, they stood up against the tyrants of England, and they built a nation that still thrives today.
No, not everything is right about America, but enough is right to make it the best.
On Independence Day, we remember those who have fought and spilled blood for our freedom. The term “heroes” calls to mind those who fought and won independence for the nation more than 200 years ago. But, in truth, we need new kinds of heroes today; individuals who can take the lead in many diverse fields and have lives that younger Americans can look up to as role models.
The brave leaders, who drafted the Declaration of Independence, could not have envisioned the United States of America today, 247 years after her birth. Surely they knew that King George III of England would commit his full force to putting down the rebellion. But the Revolution was only the first of many more wars, large and small, that were to test the mettle of our people.
It’s highly unlikely that the signers could have predicted the amazing advances in transportation — railroads, huge ships, the automobile, jet airplanes, space vehicles that put Americans on the moon and flew by planets far beyond our Earth.
We have experienced great advances in communications technology and in the field of medicine.
Indeed, America today would have blown the minds of our founding fathers.
Nevertheless, the cornerstone of freedom laid by our nation’s early leaders — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin, just to name a few — remains today.
Independence Day is a time to celebrate freedom and our achievements as a nation, but it is also a time to reflect on what lies ahead. Challenges await us as people from all over the world thirst for freedom and clamor to cross our borders and live in our communities.
Freedom is not to be taken lightly. Although July 4th is commonly associated with parades, picnics, concerts, baseball games and fireworks, it, indeed, is the national day of the United States.
So, let us come together, and let us fly our flags proudly.