Independence Day

"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."

With these words, some 56 men chose to set themselves against the greatest military power of their time 233 years ago this month.

It is easy for us in our own troubled times to think things are as bad as they can be. Certainly the state of the economy and our risking the lives of some of our best young women and men in two different wars would argue for that. Certainly the arrogance and deceit of a few of our business leaders would argue for that.

But consider what it must have been like for those men--and for those women and men who depended on them to make right decisions rightly at the risk of their lives and well-being. Not only were we likely to lose the war, it was considered impossible that if we won we could govern ourselves as a democratic republic across such a huge expanse of geography and with so many people. And there were some fundamental flaws built into our beginnings, including slavery and a basic disagreement about how far individual liberty should be taken at the expense of the common good, and vice versa.

They knew what they were facing, and wrote their pledge accordingly:

"And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

Or as Benjamin Franklin more wittily put it:

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

On this 233rd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration and the birth of a new nation, let us all draw from their courage and vision to face our challenges and fundamental flaws as a nation and a people.

This weekend, as we watch the "pomp and parade, ...shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations" that John Adams predicted, as we get together with family and friends to picnic and barbecue, let us silently, or by singing, or by affirming out loud reaffirm our own commitment to what really makes the United States great:

More than wealth and natural resources, more than size and military might, it is the idea that a people can govern themselves, can make and support hard choices, can defend their own liberty by serving in the military but also by serving on a jury or voting or signing a petition or helping their neighbors recover from disaster without being asked.

Please join with me in that reaffirmation, in pledging our sacred honor to making those brave words written over two centuries ago live on for our grandchildren and beyond.

Please join with me in thanking those who serve their nation across the globe and praying for their safe return home.

I wish all of the students, faculty, staff, friends, supporters, alumni and their families a fun-filled but meaningful Fourth of July.

David Sam