Last year, I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in Duncanville's Fourth of July parade. I drove a van bearing a group of residents of a senior-living community, and we had a wonderful time waving at the folks along the parade route.
We were astonished at how many spectators there were, many of them dressed in red, white and blue. Many of them were waving American flags, and judging from their expressions, all of them were happy to be there. And why shouldn't they be? They were celebrating a birthday.
Officially, our Fourth of July celebrations comemmorate the fact that in 1776 a group of 56 representatives in Congress assembled and signed a document declaring the colonies' independence from Great Britain and its tyrannical leadership.
How often do we re-read that incredible document, the Declaration of Independence?
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another...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..."
I suspect that John Hancock and the other signers would be astonished to see what the United States looks like 230 years later. They could scarcely have imagined a republic that would stretch from sea to shining sea, would be populated by millions and millions of individuals descended from immigrants from around the globe, or have citizens who would be responsible for astonishing inventions and achievements and innovations.
They could not have predicted that the United States would one day be a nation that sets the example for helping those in need, an example unmatched by any other country in the world. They could not have envisioned a country that offers such unparalled opportunity that the concept has its own name: the American dream.
The Declaration concludes with these ringing words: "We pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." The founding fathers were willing to risk their very lives so that the generations to follow could live free from tyranny. Freedom: it's the dream of people all over the world, and we have it. That's what that Declaration gave us. Freedom to speak, freedom to disagree, freedom to vote, freedom to dream, freedom to go, freedom to stay, freedom to fail, and freedom to try again.
Driving along that parade route, we saw a community of people who were black, white and brown. We saw people who were young, old and in between. We saw people who were skinny and people who weren't. Some were probably wealthy, some were probably not.
Perhaps on other days their differences would set them apart, but not that day.
On that day, they were Americans. Happy, smiling, birthday-celebrating Americans.
What a beautiful sight.
(Dallas Morning News Neighbors 07-08-06)
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