The (pre) 4th of July

June is nearly over and July is just about ready to make it's 2014 debut. I like July. It's usually warm and people seem to be generally more agreeable in July than they are in February. It is much easier to be nicer to others over a cookout or barbecue than it is while shoveling snow and ice out of the driveway. The grayish-blue hue that colors our winter existence is replaced with a bright and vivid cloak of sunny perfection.

Another important facet of July is that it bears the honor and distinction of hosting our national day of independence. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and I thought it would be fun (okay, I'm a self-admitted history nerd) to reexamine some of the ideas mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Context is everything and since we are not living in the 18th century, some of the original language of this document might be lost on us in our super-cyber, social media driven life. Even though Thomas Jefferson was an incredible thinker, he had no followers on Twitter.

Over the next week or so, I will attempt to look at the following passage and investigate what it means to us, today:

"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."

I would argue these 36 words frame some of the most amazing ideas ever considered. The intent was to form an axiomatic principle from which 13 struggling colonies could emerge into an independent, self-governing and functional nation. The beliefs shaping this document were meant to transcend our war with King George and forge an identity that would allow us a platform to gauge how we treated each other. To be fair, it needs to be stated that the Founder's ideas regarding "all men" were quite limited. Women, slaves, Native Americans, and those not owing property were often excluded.

And that is only one reason we will look at this amazing sentence. Times change. What do these concepts look like 238 years later? Have we truly embraced the idea that all people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Many of us have memorized this passage and can rattle it off with as much familiarity as our phone number or address. We have no problem accepting these values for ourselves. But do we have the grace to extend them to others who are different from ourselves?

We shall see.