Why we choke up when we see our flag, our armed forces.
Our parades.
Our fireworks.
We are happy to have simple food on our picnic tables, burgers and hot dogs, salads and apple pies. We don't need expensive wines or artisanal cheeses to make us happy. We need our families and neighbors pot-lucking with us, sharing our camping experience, rolling up our sleeves keeping streams clean, oceans healthy.
In our private paradise we worship in our own way, and we respect how anyone else worships.
We celebrate our independence on July 4th by meditating on what makes us strong: our amazing journey, from a nation of religious refugees to a nation with open arms to all refugees. We speak many languages and we come from many cultures.
In this new land, our hearts beat as one in our resolve to be the best society humanly possible.
We are proud to be Americans.
