Independence Day

As an Independence Day present to you, dear reader, I am providing you with links to the Declaration of Independence and to Dave Barry’s Substack post entitled “America.” What on Earth do these two documents have in common? It’s less of a stretch than you think.

Barry’s post, as always, is a riot, but at the end of it he gets serious:

What makes America great — prepare for a searing insight — is Americans. I don’t mean American politicians; I mean everyday, hardworking, generous, friendly, decent Americans, who I believe greatly outnumber the idiots. I mean the people who hold the door for you, and say “thank you” when you hold the door for them, and buy Girl Scout cookies even though they already have some at home, and never butt in line, and will lend you their jumper cables, and will take the trouble to lower a log gently to the ground instead of dropping it because there might be critters inside, and will take time out from bottle-feeding a dozen baby raccoons to schlep 50 miles in the rain so they can take custody of three baby woodpeckers, and all the other millions of small but good things that millions of Americans do every day. Which is not to say we can’t be better. But I sincerely believe — and I’m a professionally cynical old guy of 79 — that we’re pretty good.1

From this professionally cynical old guy of 76, amen to that!

So, what does this have to do with the Declaration of Independence? That when the Founders made the famous statement that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” they were referring to the same folks as Dave. Everyone — not “some,” “the educated,” “those who agree with me” — all. This implies to me a duty to look at our fellow citizens — all of them — as equals and to try our best to see through the static of politics, social media and the like, to the core of who they are and to a common humanity where we can meet.

But, but, but, they —the other — are impenetrable, watch Fox News, have ludicrous political and social beliefs, etc, etc, etc. Stop it! You and I, dear reader, have the benefits of education, ability and success. We were trained to be leaders, so let’s lead. The first step is to get off our high horses and out of our bubble, to genuinely listen (not the staged "diner interview” stuff), and to seek what is good and true and human. It is not and will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

And so, dear reader, I wish you and yours a happy and safe Independence Day. May Nature’s God, the Supreme Judge, bless us. All of us.

Amen.