Independence Day

While many of my readers do not live in the United states, I do, and, for me this is a time of celebration.

 In the United States we celebrate our independence on July the Fourth. The question needs to be asked, though,  "Are we truly independent and do we want to be?"  Humans are relational beings. We define who we are by our relationship to others: father, mother, son, daughter, spouse, lover, friend, neighbor, enemy. Our relationships make us who we are.  

The United States of America would not be who it is without many other countries.  We love our neighbors and would be poorer without them. Our best friend, our "half-sister," was our once enemy, Great Britain.  The way politics work, our current enemies will probably, one day be our friends. I hope so. As people, we don't like having enemies. 

Americans want to be liked.  We sometimes aren't, but we usually choose to ignore that.  We like being able to make choices.

Sometimes we make bad choices, bad food, bad friends, but we also make some good choices. The best one we make is to keep choosing.

That is why we celebrate on the Fourth of July.  That is why we keep celebrating throughout our lives and through the years. 

 Yes, we celebrate that original Independence Day, but what we continue to celebrate is our freedom to choose.

We have lots of problems. Many people in the United States aren't able to enjoy the freedoms that we celebrate but even they celebrate.

 It is what we do. 

Like most people in most countries, we love our country. It isn't perfect, but on the Fourth of July we celebrate.

We celebrate our effort.

We celebrate our dream.

We celebrate our freedom to choose.

Think of your own life and choose to celebrate with us.

Happy Fourth of July