236 Years Ago

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It's pretty hard to consider the mindset of a bunch of people that lived so long ago. Yet whenever I think of Independence Day I consider that whoever is screaming for independence is doing so because they feel they are being unjustly treated.

The biggest believers of freedom are locked in a cage somewhere.

And freedom from the unjust is a lofty goal.

It makes me wonder.

What those who fought for our freedom would think of us now.

Would they be for or against locking others out who are seeking freedom?

Would they be for or against a healthcare program that is all-inclusive?

Would they want to take away our guns?

Would they oppress a group of people because of their religious beliefs? Or sexual orientation?

Would they be for or against wars in other countries who's citizens are oppressed?

Again, politics isn't my game, but let's all close our eyes for a moment and consider those who were figures in the revolution that granted us freedom.

Eyes closed?

What do you see?

I see a group of men dressed in funny vests with long white hair.

But I also see a passionate group of men who believed in something so much, and fought so hard for the common good. Just decent, law-abiding men who wanted to do right for the collective rather than just themselves.

Imagine the spirit?

Imagine the dedication?

All for one and one for all?

Nobody wins unless everybody wins.

On the 4th of July we celebrate with our cook-outs and our beer. The lucky among us get to golf and hang out in the sun.

We are free to celebrate. This is still the place to be in the world. It's still the promised land, isn't it?

It's strange but as a kid I had a real sense of being born lucky. I was born in the greatest country in the world to a set of people who loved me and wanted to feed me (overfeed me, actually) on a regular basis.

I was Born in the U.S.A.

And I think about Bruce writing that song and not really being in a good place when he did, but don't tell me it isn't patriotic.

He wasn't complaining.

He was thinking of the dedication, spirit, integrity and passion of those men in the white hair who didn't stop believing until they formed a union of people who wanted the same thing:

To be the greatest nation in the land.

It's hard to consider the mindset of people from 236 years ago, but be damn sure that they were proud to be American.

I am too.

Think about that as you scarf down a rack of ribs.

I hope we never truly lose the dignity that made us great.

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