I celebrate with praise the recognized birthday of this nation, July fourth. I praise the 'radicals' of that time who realized the necessity of personal freedom over the security of extending their serfdom under King George III. Prior to the Revolutionary War the country paid homage to the King who taxed them without representation. The Colonists at that time were only loosely connected by commerce and immediate community to the concept of being part of a new country.
The war took its toll with approximately one percent of the colonists dying, not including those 17,000 estimated who died of disease and those who died as a direct result of their being a prisoner of war. The surprising victories of the ragtag soldiers over the British helped fuel the acceptance of the Declaration of Independence...anything was possible. Freedom, respect, economic independence, and the concept of self government brought the first feelings of community and oneness to the victors.
Today I celebrate. Today I remind all of the success of this experiment in self-government through a republic. May no one, not one person divide us into a chaos of rabble when we have lived under such great possibilities.
Author K. B. Pellegrino