It’s Independence Day.  I have to think this is one of the most
under-celebrated, under-appreciated holidays we have.  I wonder if we
really appreciate what it means to be free — what it means to live
under the rule of law.  We are free to start our own businesses.  We
don’t have to have approval from anyone.  We don’t have to prove we can
make it go.  We don’t have to prove we have enough funding.  We don’t
have to do anything but hang out a sign and hand out some business
cards.

Nobody tells us how much we can spend or how much we can make. 
Nobody tells us where our businesses have to be located.  Nobody sets a
limit on how many or how few hours we can work.  Nobody puts a ceiling
on our dreams.   We are free to take responsibility for our own actions
and “be all that we can be.”  Unlike the vast majority of the world, we
don’t have dictators, religious leaders, military commanders or others
telling us what we can do, when and where and how we can do it.

We’re free!!!

Shout it from the rooftops.  You are the captain of your own
destiny.  What you make of yourself is entirely dependent on who you
are, what you believe in and what you’re willing to sacrifice.  The
opportunity is offered to everyone — male and female, black and white,
married and single, young and old.  Dream about what you want and go
after it.

That’s the American dream.

In between the barbecues and the fireworks this year, maybe we ought
to take a minute and express our gratitude to whatever higher power we
believe in, and to those who have given their lives that we might live
ours unencumbered by the constraints so rampant in the world.

Call it luck or call it destiny, we were given a tremendous gift
being born in this greatest nation on earth.  Surely with that gift
comes a responsibility to let freedom ring?!?