Happy Independence Day!

Be safe, be sane. And take some time to reflect on what we are celebrating:

On July 4th, 1776, the American Colonies, driven to desperation by British government malfeasance, declared their independence. The outcome was in no way certain. The Colonies had only a disorganized, fractious, barely trained army of farmers and merchants; chronically short of food, shoes, military equipment - even the lead for their rifle balls. They were challenging the finest, most professional, best trained, equipped and led army in the world, backed by the greatest navy ever seen. The British rightly scorned their foes as hapless rable. With all this, the Patriots put everything on the line, for their children, their country, and an ideal of Freedom.     

Seven long years of bloody struggle followed. Many times it looked like the Founders had lost the bet on their lives. Then finally, implausibly, a Franco-American army encircled the British army at Yorktown and forced its surrender. 

Read the Declaration of Independence - after all these years, the words still ring true.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it."

 Radical, revolutionary words. Fit to change the path of humanity.

Those Patriots gave the country, the world, and the future a tremendous gift, purchased with their blood. It is up to us not to waste it.