Macaroni Dad

Think for a minute that a group of crazy guys got together about 240 years ago and decided they were going to give old mother England the ‘up yours’ and build something new. They thought it made a lot of sense to put the power of government in the hands of the people instead of a self-appointed regulating authority. They certainly weren’t popular for thinking it or doing it, but they held to their principals and made it happen.

We have and have had, some brilliant people in this nation, but to think that George, James, John, Ben, Thomas and the gang had the guts and the insight to rebel and change the course of history is inspiring. They had the courage and the character to push the limits and redefine freedom and happiness. Simply stating that makes me want to do more and be more as well...it should make all of us want to make more of this freedom and this opportunity that lies before us.

In comparion, as a country we are babies, or at most toddlers, in this world that has had nations formed over thousands of years. The Chinese had fireworks back in the 7th Century. The Germans have been brewing beer since 1040. Although we didn’t invent fireworks, or beer for that matter, we are experts in shooting fireworks off and drinking lots of beer when the occasion calls for it. That makes us experts at living free and having fun. But at 238 years old, I guess you could still call us babies.

These babies, however, made the first car and the first plane and when things looked dire, rallied together to turn the tide of the first great war and then the second. The information age and the research to further medical advances have originated here and our pioneers today continue to leap forward towards new discoveries and more enriched lives not just for us, but for the world. In short, we have somehow found ourselves as the most powerful nation in the world in only a couple of hundred years. We’ve had some good times and some bad times and there are most likely more learning years ahead. We stick our hands and our heads in anything possible and we are loved and hated around the world for who we are, what we have and what we do. We could choose to live anywhere, but we live here. We are the luckiest people on earth and today we get to celebrate our Nation's birthday. 

So Happy Birthday to us all!

Within each of us is this opportunity and the chance to make our lives as great or as mediocre as we choose to. People still come from all over to this land of opportunity to change their lives, their fate and their family tree. Some amazing family histories have been rewritten and changed forever by some of the greatest Americans in our past and those still here today.

We are good at having kids, drinking beer and shooting off fireworks. But we are also great at loving each other, building strong families and teaching our children to live happy and free. Thanks to our forefathers for the insight and the courage to make it all happen, and thanks to our veterans and our current war heroes who fight for this freedom even today.