Today is an unusual day, unlike many July 4th’s of years past.

What happened to all of our unalienable Rights, the ones written 244 years ago in our Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776, including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness?

Well, maybe today is not so unusual, as never before do we have more of our unalienable Rights as we do today.

Life – we are alive, there never has been more live Americans in existence, our life expectancy and health standards have never been historically higher as human beings, and the sacrifices those are making on the front lines and the ones everyone else are making like quarantining and social distancing is helping to further increase the lives of others.

Liberty – more Americans have more liberty today than years past, and our digital connections and technologies have enabled us to further liberate ourselves and broadcast our voices in ways we’ve never had before without any physical limits or governmental restrictions.

The pursuit of Happiness – happiness is a tricky issue, as different people define happiness differently, but at the same time we have more ability today to create and maintain close relationships, do more with our free time, as well as having more access to increase our wealth, our education, our charity and acts of kindness, our health and exercise, and most importantly, our fun.

Today is our day to be as “American” as we can be, and our service today calls on us to take care of one each other, no matter if our government will or won’t, better listen and learn from one another, and bunker at home and wear masks outside. I’m sure all of our founding fathers as well as the great Americans, heroes, and soldiers of our past would have all 100% signed-up for our service in 2020 than the service they actually had to go through doing their part in defending and preserving the people of our great nation.

We also have an uncertain future ahead of us. There’s a lot Americans making their voices heard, whether its for no racism, no evoking race, no killing, no peace, no criminal behaviors, no violence, no justice, no looting, no police, no defunding police, no viruses, no inequality, no statues, no destroying statues, no anthems, no taking away anthems, no flags, no burning flags, no standing, no kneeling, as its in our DNA as Americans to stand up and say no, and protest, sacrifice, and fight for what we think is right, and against what we think is wrong, in our nation and in our world. This is Americans being Americans at its best, it’s our nature, and saying no is how we actually became Americans. We also need to always remember that no doesn’t mean we are not against each other, but with each other, as we are all in this together as one. And, when we all realize that we can say no, and that we are all together as one, we can actually connect and communicate with each other, and actually move ourselves and our country forward into an exciting new future together.

Happy Independence Day!