Happy 4th of July!

[PM2K]

To all my American friends, have a Happy (and safe) 4th of July!

[dlodoski]

To all my American friends, have a Happy (and safe) 4th of July!

Thank you PM2K

Mine is going to be pretty quiet. But with any luck, I will not celebrate alone a year from now.

Happy 4th y'all.

[nachtjaeger]

Thanks!

To our credit, we don't celebrate April 19th (when the shooting started) but the day that representatives from the 13 colonies signed the document that officially founded a new nation.

"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."

To all my American friends, have a Happy (and safe) 4th of July!

[DJlurker]

My day is relatively quiet, too... Until tonight, when everybody and their mother start shooting off the fireworks and making my poor dog go berserk, forcing me to stay out with her until midnight or so...

[Fred588]

Actually, we do. In some states at least, April 19 in Patriot's Day. In Boston its the day of the famous Boston Marathon.

Nevertheless, the sentiment is well-stated and the quotation is an extremely powerful expression of philosophy that is pretty hard to disagree with. To that, I will add another almost equally powerful, though not as old, expression of what I hope we are:

The New Colossus

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!""

Thanks!

To our credit, we don't celebrate April 19th (when the shooting started) but the day that representatives from the 13 colonies signed the document that officially founded a new nation.

"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."

To all my American friends, have a Happy (and safe) 4th of July!