Happy 4th of July!

On this Independence Day, what about living in the U.S. makes you most thankful? Eugene Cho asked this question on his blog and it got me thinking because it seems like we tend to either take this question for granted and answer it flippantly or we are too cynical and lists the problems, or we believe patriotism means we can't both acknowledge the problems and celebrate the wonders of our country and her form of government. So what are you thankful for?

Today, I find myself celebrating the fact that we live in a country where we can disagree but still find value in working together to create the best situation possible for the most people. I'm proud to live in a country where we do have a commitment to the poor, the tired, the brokenhearted, and those yearning to be free even if we don't always live out that commitment perfectly.

Democracy is messy, hard business. If we wanted something simple and straight forward and that always worked the same way, then we'd want some sort of autocracy. But I'm thankful for the messiness of people coming together in community and working together for the common good.

And I'm thankful for a country where we have the freedom to laugh.

Happy 4th of July!