Happy Independence Day! May we honor the legacy of our founders and every soul that has contributed to the American Experiment in the last 248 years by coming together like these soldiers and:
...recognizing our irreversible mosaic of interdependence and interconnectedness
...accepting our responsibility to positively contribute for all, not simply our right to retreat into like-minded communities and do whatever we want for ourselves
...understanding that our nation is bigger and greater than any one politician or figurehead, any particular party or election or organization, any court case
...celebrating the achievements and progress and legacy of a governmental system that, despite its flaws, was (at its founding) nevertheless revolutionary in its empowerment of people rather than entrenched aristocrats and continues to provide new opportunities and progress
...acknowledging the flaws, often tragic, that our nation (as a product of unavoidably flawed human beings) has enabled and commited
...treating each other with CURIOSITY for what we can learn from others, RESPECT for what others contribute (or have the potential to contribute) to our society (regardless of education, profession, political belief, region, religion, race, gender, orientation, etc, etc), COMPASSION for the struggles we all endure and could use help with and HUMILITY to understand that none of us knows everything and all of us can and are, at times, hypocrites and selfish with blinders on and that we each contribute not just to the good but to the bad.
There is no country in which I’d rather live. In the podcast I do for American Tributaries, Inc, I have shared, so far, conversations with people from 44 different states with backgrounds as varied as possible and they have given me resolute hope and belief in the future of the United States of America as it comes from us...the people...not the inflammatory sound bites of media or self-serving exaggerated messages of fundraisers and politicians.
Each of us has the ability to make this nation as great as it can be. Far more than whoever is elected in November. THAT’s America.
Happy 248th!
Senior Project Director -EPC
2wWell stated! We should all be grateful we live in this wonderful nation of ours!