Happy 4th Of July!!

Hope everyone has been enjoying a great 4th of July! It's fantastic to celebrate 230 years of the USA! Got to love a day off work, fireworks, barbecues, and fun!

In addition, I'd like to discuss the holiday's deeper meaning. Often it's all too easy to take for granted our uniquely American freedoms, successes, and opportunities, and each year our nation's birthday happily reminds us of these wonderful privileges. So along with today's celebrations, let's also feel thankful that we live in what our national anthem so excellently defines as the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Much excellent writing about this day has also surfaced on the Internet, and here are some of the best that I have enjoyed:

Celebrate the Majesty of America

Enjoy Memories of the 4th

Salute the Troops

And to put things into perspective, imagine A World Without America.

I'd also like to relate a personal note by quoting one of my wife's favorite songs. More than anything else, her experiences as an immigrant from a third-world country have shown me just how privileged Americans stand compared to most everyone else on the globe. We really should be ever-more thankful indeed.


G-d Bless the U.S.A.

By Lee Greenwood
© MCA Music

If tomorrow all the things were gone I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land G-d bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee,
across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea,

From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA,
Well, there’s pride in every American heart,
and it’s time to stand and say:

I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land G-d bless the U.S.A.