5 Things You Shouldn’t Forget About This 4th Of July

A quick exploration of 5 things we would be well served to remember a little more regularly.

Today is the anniversary of our independence as a nation. A day where we will all gather to grill out, watch fireworks and maybe drink a few too many beers. All under the false pretense of celebrating an event that many of us know little about. An event that my generation has taken for granted, and would be well served to remember a little more regularly.

Today…

I want you to take a minute and think about the things that you don’t think about most every other day of your life. I want you to think about why you don’t consider them a little more closely and then think about what an amazing freedom it actually is to not have to think about it. Now imagine it gone. Exactly, I don’t like the thought of that either. So before you crack open your first brew, and before you start blowing off all your bottle rockets, take a minute and browse these 5 things we celebrate on Independence Day , yet forget daily.

1 – Our Independence Is Still Important

We should make sure not to forget that our differences are neither about opinion, nor moral belief. They’re about freedom. We forget that “all men are created equal” regardless of race, color, creed, or religion. We forget our freedoms did not come free and we forget how fragile those freedoms actually are.

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” – Jim Morrison-

2 – “We The People…” Means You and I

Read more from Grace about why “We The People…” Are the Problem. Please do not forget that we must first be the kind of leaders we want to see leading our government. We have to paint, with permanent ink, the words “with liberty and justice for all” on our future generations . If we want to see American values survive over the ages, then that means we have to stand up and use our voices!

“As we look over the list of the early leaders of the republic, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, and others, we discern that they were all men who insisted upon being themselves and who refused to truckle to the people. With each succeeding generation, the growing demand of the people that its elective officials shall not lead but merely register the popular will has steadily undermined the independence of those who derive their power from popular election. The persistent refusal of the Adams’ to sacrifice the integrity of their own intellectual and moral standards and values for the sake of winning public office or popular favor is another of the measuring rods by which we may measure the divergence of American life from its starting point.” – James Truslow Adam-

3 – The Real American Dream Is Dying

We must not forget that the real American Dream is not just about buying a two story house, having one and a half kids, building a white picket fence, and getting a dog. We are allowing doors to be closed that we fought so hard to open, “from sea to shinning sea,”. But where is that fellowship when the fireworks fade?

“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” – The Epic of America –

4 – Freedom Never Was & Never Will Be Free

We cannot forget why The Declaration of Independence is so important. It was intended to declare that the individual should be free from the oppressive tyrannical rule of power hungry politicians.  It declares that each of us is endowed by our creator (regardless of who you think that creator might be) with certain inalienable rights. Democratic, Republican, Conservative or Liberal? No! “We are the people, and we are being played.”

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” – Declaration of Independence – 

5 – United We Stood – Divided We Failed

Most importantly, we must not forget that we are “one nation, indivisible” not a bunch of segments of society, divided and displaced! United we stand and divided we’ll fall . . . and we’re falling fast. When the holiday is over, we’ll return to our norms of complaining, rallying, debating, and “who scammed who” talk – forgetting why we stand bold in our freedoms.

‘My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

“If America is to be a great nation, this must become true! – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have stood by and watched while the nation we love is destroyed and abused and stood by as these freedoms we take for granted are slowly being taken from us. It’s time for a change, America! A real change, not just some overrated rally cry. We must stand behind the laws, freedoms, and values of our land! Our soldiers have fought, our families have scarified, our children have seen tragedy and death, and now, its time! Let us all take a stand!

“The great value of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it. – James Truslow Adams –