4th of July As I see it.

I hope you all enjoyed the festivities yesterday, and that you had the day off today.  I got stuck working, which wasn’t that bad, since it was a skeleton crew and I had a small problem that kept me occupied most of my shift. July 4^th is an important day to celebrate. Though none of us were here on July 4^th 1776, if those brave men had not made the tough choices, and decided that the ways things were needed to be changed, we all would live a much different life. Our founding fathers made decisions that not only set America out on its own path, but also that gave each citizen the opportunity to make their own choices, make their own destiny, and forge a path their parents would have not have had the ability to.

 

That has not changed in the over 224 years since. I have been able to work in a field, mastering equipment and techniques that just 2 decades ago were not even on the drawing board. My children do more work online and on computers for school in one semester than was possible in my entire high school career. There are entire fields of career choices available to people today that did not exist only 10 to 15 years before. Most of these changes are due to experimentation, exploration, and breakthroughs made possible by the free market system that is the mainstay of our American economy.

 

Men like John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson spent months debating the choice of continuing to be a subject of royalty across a distant shore that treated this group of colonies as a depository of resources, or to forge out on their own, make their own republic, and govern themselves. Household names like George Washington, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock worked to turn a group of poorly trained, under equipped farmers, ranchers, and workers into the first American fighting force. There are a healthy debate on every issue, but when it was all done, they came together and acted as one group of American leaders.

 

If you have read about this time in our country, or viewed the numerous movies, and mini-series events related to this period, the one common thread is that none of these men wanted to be taking the actions they did, but became resolved that it was the only course of action that gave them a chance of a successful future for them, their children, and the generations of Americans to come after them. They knew if they did not act, the situation would only become more critical and all hope of freedom, of a bright future for the generations ahead would become a dim dream instead of a possible reality.

 

For me, each 4^th of July is a celebration that our founding fathers made the right choice. Every day I get up, get to work in a field I love, provide for my family, and can teach them the difference between what is right and what is just, I am just one of millions of examples that they were wise beyond their years. We celebrate the freedom many have bought for us, and we cherish the choices we are allowed to make of our own free will every day.