Sweet, Sweet Independence

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

One of the beauties of this country, the great U.S. of A., is the great number of freedoms that we have been gifted. That includes the freedom to complain about the way it's run, the freedom to be ignorant of its history, and the freedom to waste your life staring vacantly through over-sized sunglasses and carrying weird little dogs around in your purse.

While that may sound rather negative, let's also take a look at the other things people have fought, argued and died to give us the right to: The right to vote (all of us!), the right to speak out minds, the right to be silly or weird or unique in any way. In this country, any woman can go out for any man's job, there are no legal race boundaries, and so long as you're not trodding on anyone else's toes, you can pursue any dream and practice any creed and preach any ideal.

It's amazing, what we've managed to come up with in a few centuries! The USA is the culmination of all of the best traditions and beliefs of the entire world; we are the melting pot!

Are we perfect? About as perfect as a country song sung by a rapper. But I believe a certain amount of optimism has to be invoked when looking over generations worth of effort. And the 4th of July, as it is celebrated here, is a time for celebrating the successes. Perhaps it's also a time for considering failures and flaws; a time to consider possible solutions.

So for those of you Yanks out there, Happy Fourth! For those of you who belong to another crowd, thanks for playing! Turn on the old television and watch some fireworks, courtesy of your gum-chewing, baseball cap-wearing cousins.