Every July 4, we gather as one to celebrate the birth of our great nation. Two hundred and forty-five years ago, our Founding Fathers came together at great risk to themselves and their families to sign the Declaration of Independence. That hot summer day in Philadelphia was a defining moment in American history in which we announced to the world that we are here and we are here to stay.
President John F. Kennedy spoke of the United States as “that we shall be as a city upon a hill the eyes of all people are upon us.” President Ronald Reagan proudly stated that “We raised a banner of bold colors — no pale pastels. We proclaimed a dream of an America that would be a Shining City on a Hill.” Our collective soul, that spiritual part that runs through us all, is found in the words of the Declaration of Independence. We announce to the world we are leaving; leaving the confines of British rule, laying out for the world to see the injustices inflicted upon us and what we would base our very existence on. Now, we are not perfect. Like all countries, we have those things that bring us sorrow and shame — shows the world our sometimes horrible imperfections. But when we think we are done, that all is lost, it is July 4 once again, and we realize what a masterful document the Declaration of Independence is.
“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.”
How these words must have terrified the monarchies of Europe that for centuries ruled based on what they thought was their “divine right.”  This until a group of upstarts, colonials if you will, put them in their place. “We the People” have that divine right to pick and choose our own way. Consent of the governed — powerful words even today that will strike fear to those in power. A document which places much of who we are in the belief of a Divine Being, a God, a Christian God. Yet by stating “all men are created equal,” the Founding Fathers are also in their own way acknowledging the diversity of who we are. The Declaration of Independence is our very essence, and the values that it represents have to be fought for every day. The Founding Fathers threw down the gantlet, set the bar to almost unreachable heights.
For almost 250 years, we have stood alone, that city upon a hill for all the world to see. Out of it has come a nation that so far has stood the test of time, but there is our future. Does July 4 and the Declaration of Independence still have meaning in a time the Internet, Twitter and Facebook? Yes, Virginia, it does!
We forget, we get scared, but we always come back to the essence of who we are and who we have yet to become.