Editor's Blog –
Happy Independence Day to all Americans!
Do you remember the French newspaper headline the day after 9/11: We Are All Americans Now... I hope we can rekindle that feeling of community around the world, because Americans deserve to be thought of with warmth. Despite our government's dreadful mistakes over the years, the torch still burns faintly, the reminder that we can lead wisely, we can bring hope, we can embrace the world. I thank our lucky stars for the confluence of brave and thoughtful farmers and craftsmen who landed in Boston and Philadelphia and Jamestown as settlers, who spoke out for religious rights, freedom of speech and independence of thought…
I have taken our family to walk in those places, in the footsteps of Franklin, Jefferson, Payne, Adams and Washington. If you ever get the chance, do visit Independence Hall in Philadelphia and the North Church in Boston, Monticello and Mount Vernon in Virginia. Visiting these places as an adult made me more appreciative of these founding fathers. The odds of success were not in their favor. Not at all. (left, Independence Hall in Boston)
I thank God for the French, whose fleet of ships and soldiers, led by Rochambeau and de Grasse, made it possible for the colonists to win the revolution, beginning at Yorktown!! (below, ship sails out of Yorktown)
I'm reserving the rest of the day for rest and celebration. We had a new deck built on the house. The flag is flying over the railing and our neighbors are expected to light the usual fireworks over the lake that wow us every year. Life is good.
Here's to you, America — the idea, the symbol, the fight and the gesture that made you wonderful.