Every July 4th, millions of Americans pause their daily lives; we step away from work, gather with families and friends, lighting grills, lighting fireworks, all to honor something that began with 56 signatures on parchment 249 years ago. Today we celebrate FREEDOM and its beacon, the United States of America. The world-changing Declaration of Independence that was issued by our courageous and future-focused Founding Fathers on July 4, 1776 set the standard and the aspirations for a new nation.

There is special significance in each of the three numbers which mark this 249th anniversary:

TWO (2) — Centuries

TWO centuries and nearly half of another. Through an uncertain revolutionary war, a tragic civil war that nearly tore us apart, through world wars that tested our resolve, through movements that expanded our understanding of “all men are created equal.” Yet the flame lit in 1776 still burns. This Great American Experiment continues, not because it is easy, but because each generation has chosen to tend that flame rather than let it die.

FOUR (4) — United States Armed Forces

FOUR branches stand guard over our freedoms, from Army boots in foreign lands, to Navy vessels cutting through distant seas, from Air Force jets streaking overhead, to Coast Guard cutters rescuing the lost. Each uniform carries forward the promise our founders made:

These men and women protect all we hold dear, embodying the courage that first declared independence from tyranny.

NINE (9) — Generations of Americans

NINE generations of Americans have answered freedom’s call. The Revolutionary War farmer who left his plow, the Civil War soldier who died at Gettysburg, the World War II men who fought abroad (as my father did) and women who worked in factories (as my mother did), the Vietnam veteran still healing, the modern servicemember deployed far from home — every generation adding their chapter to our collective story. Each has valiantly served to first secure, and since defend, the freedom and way of life we enjoy today.

Freedom is not free. The price is great, yet the rewards are priceless.

Today, as fireworks illuminate the sky and families gather, we are both the inheritors and the guardians of that revolutionary idea born 249 years ago. We are the NEXT generation in this chain of freedom and the responsibility to preserve it now rests with us.

As we celebrate this Independence Day, we recall the first and the TWO (2), FOUR (4) and NINE (9) that have followed!

Tempus Maximize!