Freedom. Happy 245th Birthday America!

Happy 245th Birthday America! I am so excited to go out again this year to watch fireworks and celebrate freedom with other patriotic Americans! During the entirety of 2020 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic I was living alone in LA County (I no longer live in California) and Independence Day mostly seemed sad. LA County sounded a bit like a war zone that night (as well as the surrounding nights) due to the excessive private fireworks people were shooting off in their neighborhoods. I went outside at one point to check that no debris had fallen in the yard and the reverberations sounded like a far off marching army. You may have seen the news videos of the sky views of the explosions. I don’t know whether it was a response to lockdown frustrations or a desire to celebrate the USA as much as possible in difficult circumstances (lockdowns), but it was pretty noisy and crazy!

What does Independence Day mean to you?

To me, it means a celebration of freedom and all that is good about the USA. It means that I can go to church on Sundays and worship with other believers. It means that I have opportunities to succeed, should I choose to put the effort in. I know there are those on both sides of the political spectrum who feel their freedom or rights are being taken away from them, and those who are concerned that we are giving up our freedom voluntarily. I know there are also those who are concerned at what they believe are the failures of this country to uphold freedom and/or rights. And I believe some of those concerns are legitimate. But no government, country, or person, is perfect. When I look at the USA, I see a country that is more free than any other. I see a country that has historically been a sign of independence, hope, possibilities, and freedom to many people from other countries. I see men and women who stood up and fought for the rights of all Americans to speak freely, worship freely, make a life for their families freely, and still do.

And I am grateful.

Gratefulness is key when we may struggle to see the good. When we focus on the stuff that isn’t so great, we eventually lose our ability to see the blessings and freedom for what they are. Beyond that, we must give our efforts to patriotism. Sometimes that means just turning off the news and talking to a neighbor instead. Other times it means knowing the issues and candidates and voting on them. For some, it means the sacrifices of the military or speaking out at school board or townhall meetings. One of the biggest blessings of this country is that our government and Constitution were designed to put freedom into the hands of its citizens and we needn’t rely on the government to fulfill our dreams or pull us up by our bootstraps. I expect we are all familiar with this quote from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address that says, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” We must not lose sight of this idea. We must love our neighbors, fight for virtue and freedom, owe nothing to the government by allowing them to become “our savior”, and seek always the good in and for our fellow Americans. (I have included a link to JFK’s entire speech below, as I found it, while not perfect, to be an encouraging reminder of what we ought to do as Americans.)

In conclusion,

I want to share a song/music video that made me cry when it was released just before Independence Day 2020. It’s a purely vocal cover of a song we all know, “God Bless The U.S.A”, released by country acapella group Home Free featuring the original artist Lee Greenwood and the United States Air Force Band. I hope you enjoy as much as I did the first time I heard this. Have a Happy 4th of July and remember to be grateful.

https://www.johnfkennedy.org/p/president-john-f.html

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