America.. She Is Beautiful..

Today America celebrates her independence. As Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines it “the quality or state of being independent: Freedom”. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines independent as “not dependent, not subject to control by others: self-governing”. I sat and thought about these definitions in great length today, wondering how or whether they fit in my existence. I thought about my husband, who does much for me. I thought about the things I bring to the table. Though maybe we both depend on the other for different things, neither controls the other, and maybe that is the point. We coexist to the benefit of both, we serve each other, teach each other, and love each other.

I suppose I have looked at America as an expansion of this thought process. The grand experiment of just and moral beings taking part in their own governance. Adding our own specific talents to the benefit of all, and at times self-sacrificing for the betterment, willing to teach, and be taught. My heart has always believed in the idea, along with the founders, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. I think Thomas Paine put it best “The cause of America is in a great the cause of all Mankind. Where, some say, is the king of America? I’ll tell you, friend, He reigns above.”

Though many of the founding fathers felt and thought the same, John Adams said “It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.” I may agree John, religion as defined by Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary “the service and worship of God, or the supernatural” and morality “particular moral principles or rules of conduct, conformity to ideals of right human conduct” should make for a solid foundation. So why do I feel like the foundation is cracking?

How did we get to a place where we no longer say we are a Constitutional Republic, but instead a Democracy? How did we get to a place where corruption exists? How did we get to a place where many feel overburdened and underappreciated? How did we get to a place where our hate motivates us and not our love or moral compass? How did we get to a place where many do not believe in a higher power? How did we get to a place that many think they can do truly abhorrent things in the name of religion? What is truth and what is not? Where is personal responsibility in the scheme of all these things?

I ask these questions, as I perceive these at times. Yet even with those perceptions, for all that she is, and has been, for the mistakes she has made, and will make, she (America) is still the best country to wake up in everyday, and I am grateful to get to do just that. So I will celebrate that I am alive and all life is beautiful. I will celebrate that I am free to make choices, including the choice of whether to do something bad or something good. I will celebrate that I have the knowledge that their are rewards and consequences for each of my choices. I will celebrate that I have the ability to pursue things that truly make me happy. Today, with you, I will celebrate her, I will celebrate those that fought to form her, and those that fight to keep her, and I will continue to wish that each of you, if not today, one day will get to celebrate the same things too, wherever you are.