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When I've been asked in passing what I'll be doing for the Fourth of July, I have answered that I don't know. That's not true, though. I know exactly what I'll be doing:

1. I'll be reflecting on the sheer audacity of the extraordinary ordinary folks who cooked up the idea of independence.
2. This revolutionary idea represented a complete turning over, around, and inside out of power at every level and in every facet of life--education, commerce, government, religion.
3. The authors of our independence dared to invoke the Creator, ascribing to this being credit for endowing each of us equally with the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness....
4. Each of us is therefore blessed with the right and responsibility to work hard to live well.
5. The very idea of human rights emerged from the scrawl of a learned man drew his wisdom from his peers and from the ancients.
6. One argumentative essay written to perfection left a king with no place to hide.
7. Reason and a good dose of self-respect shook loose the fetters of a distant king.
8. My ancestors fought in that war. They were very, very young, but they
9. Fought for a just cause
10. That would ultimately benefit every member of the new nation.
11. The conversation begun in 1776 continues today.
12. We participate in it when we vote and otherwise engage and hold accountable our elected officials.
13. And I will say Amen: the Fourth of July is about the power of the imagination to make all things new again and again and again.

More at Thursday Thirteen