There are a few days each year that bring the special nature of our citizenship home. Today, July 4th is perhaps the most special as it signifies the birthday of our country. I hope that as you are enjoying your summer, whether you are at school or working (or maybe just resting and relaxing), you can take a few key lessons from our national Independence Day.
First, realize that arriving at this day did not come easy. The journey to July 4, 1776 started in way back in 1763. Thus, for 13 years, a few key people kept pressing and pushing others to join the cause. For most of those 13 years, the majority of people living here did NOT want independence. Note, then the dedication and stubborn desire to not quit that was expressed by those who saw a different future.
Further, those “patriots” were often opposed. Not only were approximately 60% of the inhabitants against independence, a solid 30% were actively energized against the “patriots.” In their minds, to leave England made little sense. Even the debates about independence that took place on July 1-2, 1776 show this. There were hours of intense debate as several of the men who were in the Second Continental Congress remained convinced that independence was NOT THE RIGHT PATH! They took a vote and the vote was 9-3-1 in favor, nice but NOT good enough. For independence, the men knew they must have a unanimous decision. You know the rest of the story how a key political victory made on July 2. For now, you and I can debate who was right in our journey for independence, but for our purposes, we should see that mere opposition and criticism did not stop our “founding brothers.”
Lastly, the cost was very, very high. We’ve covered the idea that success demands a high price before in my emails to you, but let me just add that most of the men who signed the Declaration paid in terms of time, money, reputation and energy. Some gave their lives. What price are you paying to achieve success?
Let me close with this. Many today seem to enjoy tearing our country down; many students I interact with have seemingly been raised or trained to “diss” our country. I saw this last night when I watched our local fireworks display (it’s held on the 3rd). After 4-5 fun hours of rock concerts, great food and kids games, the fireworks took over. And as I looked around sadly, many 16-25 years olds just turned away and wandered on out to their cars or apartments.
Don’t be one of these people.
We are each blessed to be born in this country. This day reminds me of how great the cost was to establish a country that would be an experiment in liberty and freedom for the average person. Most of us are not born of nobility or great wealth; were it not for our founders, we might still be living in a society where we had few rights or few options. Most of the great political changes of the next 200 years (the French revolution, the English reforms towards democracy, the Russian revolution, the idea of national self-determination) all emanate from our country. The rest of the world ultimately saw that normal people could succeed and be happy if they self-governed.
The experiment is still ongoing. Today, you are the one wearing the lab smock overseeing this experiment. Whatever the country is for your grandchildren lies on your shoulders today. You are a part of this email list because you have stated a desire for personal success. You want to achieve greatness in some area of life. I tell you that you would not even have that much of a chance if you didn’t live here.
Don’t listen to the negative people who try to tell you just how bad our country is. We are still a great country doing great things both here at home and in the world. Note I didn’t say we are perfect, but this is the place to be. You know that is true since so many people still desire to come here to live and become citizens, more than all of the other countries combined.
Enjoy this Independence Day and take a brief moment to pause and breath a silent “thank you” to be in this great country, the greatest country on the planet. Then commit yourself to helping keep it great. Then learn from the founders that a pursuit of success demands a willingness to pay a cost, fight through opposition, and stay the course perhaps for years or decades.
Happy Birthday, USA!