Independence Day!

I am a proud American. I have an immigration story on each side of my family with a cornucopia of twists and turns, one relative thought she was learning English, but it turned out to be Yiddish. Other relatives came over with a few coins and a name and address of a sponsor. There is no limit to the amount of struggle and pain a new arrival faces when landing on our shores.

While our country makes mistakes, sometimes huge mistakes, we are a country of people who come from somewhere else, set down roots and make this great experiment our own. Most of us take a lot of pride in our country, if for no other reason than it is our country.

On the other hand, our country is always in a state of adjustment. Constantly moving forward is hard. Humans like the familiar and romanticize the way things were. How many times have we heard about “the good old days” without the crime, disease, and early death? The reality is that progress is happening all around us, and it is hard to adjust.

“Back in the day,” really means before all this happened. It is good to know where we come from, but no time in our past or our future is perfect. As a nation of people from elsewhere, our culture is always shifting, expanding, and adjusting. We are not going to be the same in 5 years, and in 30 years, things will be vastly different. Part of being American is jumping on the rollercoaster of progress.

So on this Independence Day weekend while many people are caught up in the political push and pull that truly makes America what she is, remember that forward is the direction we are going, and while looking back is important, looking ahead is crucial.

Happy Independence Day!