Do you remember how the Declaration of Independence ends? "...we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." If you have a few minutes today, look up what happened to those brave men. Several did lose their lives and their fortune, but not their sacred honor. They truly were giants and I think about them every time I raise our flag.
Here are my two favorite quotes for the Fourth of July.
The first is by John Adams, who wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776: “The second day of July, 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.”
He was wrong about the date. Although a resolution for indepence was drafted and adopted by his committee on the 2nd, the official declaration was not signed until the 4th. But he was right about the rest of it: “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
My other favorite quote is from humorist Erma Bombeck: “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”
Lift a hot dog for me, my friends, and Happy Birthday, America!
