Independence

I was thinking today about what Thomas Jefferson was doing on June 30, 1776. My guess, he was proofreading and looking forward to the next few days when he could kick back and relax with a pint of ale once the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress. Two hundred and thirty four years later, I am sitting here proofreading something far less important (just like I do everyday) and looking forward to the next few days when I will kick back and relax with a glass of wine once I make it all the way up to Grand Lake to celebrate my favorite holiday with my favorite people - my family. I love the Fourth of July because it represents two of the most wonderful things in life - fireworks and freedom. Thank you Thomas J., the forefathers, and the Continental Congress for all of your hard work leading up to July 4, 1776. I'm really glad you made that deadline and declared your independence so perfectly. What is better than a three day weekend in the middle of the summer to celebrate our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by lighting a bunch of stuff on fire and getting a massive sunburn at the lake? I submit to you, there is nothing!! If you can't tell yet, I am a huge fan...

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.

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 of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

That just sets my heart a flutter. I can't wait to have a few drinks this weekend, toast to the USA, and get in argument about politics with my dad...all because I have the freedom to do so :)

GOD BLESS THE USA,

SES