Independence Day 2010

Hi to anybody reading,

So today is the 4th of July, in case you're on U.S.A. soil and managed to miss it.  Or are an American on foreign soil who has lost track of the date. . . amidst the fireworks and barbecues, cookouts, beach days, sparklers, parades, and cold beers, I just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks.

Thanks to the men who drafter, wrote, voted on, and ratified the Declaration of Independence, birth certificate, guiding document, and foundation of a whole nation.

Thanks to George Washington, who led our rebel army until it became the victorious army of a brave new world (and no, he isn't covered in the above thanks. . . contrary to popular belief, George Washington was too busy you know, fighting the red coats to stop by and sign the Declaration.  Strange, right?)

Thanks to the brave men, women (and boys, as so very many of our earliest soldiers were) who have sacrificed the lives they knew, their wealth, their health, their loves, and often their very last breath for this country.  We reap the benefits everyday, and your sacrifices are not forgotten.

Thanks to everyone who has ever been brave enough to march on Washington, face down hoses and billy clubs and bullets and alienation for what they believed in.  If we do not use our freedoms of assembly, free speech, and peaceful protest then it is useless to have them.  Additionally, some of the changes that have been effected through protest are astounding - for instance, the right to vote for all  American Citizens through the ending of suffrage and the civil rights movement.

Thanks to each and every individual who has helped make America a great nation - the scientists, artists, performers, writers, politicians, musicians and leaders that have contributed to not only our nation, but to our world.

Thanks to the men and women who are serving now, and to their families.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

And I thank God for letting me born here, in the power, safety, wealth, beauty, and freedom of the United States of America.