Happy Birthday!

I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to write a short post since we'll be doing the Holiday thing with family over the weekend.  My family has two birthdays to celebrate on the Fourth of July: my dad's, and our country's.  (The latter is a little older than the former.)

So before anything else is said -- Happy Birthday, Dad!

As for celebrating the Independence Day part of the Fourth ...

I enjoy watching a good professional fireworks display. I also enjoy an evening with friends or family and watching the fireworks that people have purchased at a roadside stand (where that's legal).  But that part of the 4th means a little less each year.

And just as shooting off a few fireworks means a little less, appreciation for my awesome country means a little more.  I know that we have our share of problems. We are far from a perfect country.  I think that it is ironic that the document that declares our independence from England has its own imperfections.  It's funny -- about two thirds of the way down the page, and towards the center, there is a word added by using this symbol (^) and writing 'only' between the words 'answered' and 'by',  Other than adding a little bit of emphasis, the word 'only' doesn't really change anything. I guess I think it's odd that the writer would go back and make this small correction.

I can certainly understand not wanting to start over in order to have a perfect document.  But was it really necessary to have the word 'only' inserted into the sentence?  Perhaps it was just too much trouble to leave it out. I mean -- that was the language that was voted on and approved. To change it would require another meeting and more debate.  Some would want to keep it citing that the wording of the Declaration far exceeds the appearance of the document.  Others might have had the foresight to realize that this document would be cherished throughout our history and wanted it clean.

Maybe it just wasn't that important so the writer just inserted the missing word and nobody cared.  I just think that the idea of our imperfect country having an imperfect document that declares our independence is interesting.

Happy Birthday, US of A.

John<><

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness..."