It’s the time of the year when I see lots of patriotic posts, challenging people to show the flag and “Stand up for freedom and America.” I do celebrate Independence Day because as a movement it acknowledged human equality and unalienable rights. It’s also important to understand that the founding fathers’ first push for freedom was mostly for themselves. They were not perfect and their constitution wasn’t perfect either. Many had slaves, discredited the rights and contributions of women and thought the native population was an intrusion on their plans. Even now, people are still arguing against doing business with people that live different than them, banning books they disagree with, treating new immigrants with less dignity than themselves, telling women and their doctors what they can and cannot do and approaching the world at large with greed and selfish ambition.

America is a beautiful land, and has offered a fresh opportunity for many people escaping terrible regimes including several of the immigrants who make up my family tree. While I do celebrate our accomplishments, we still have a lot of work left to do. We are a part of and not separate from earth and its other inhabitants. We have an opportunity to exercise leadership with that comes the need for some humility and grace.