A Word of Thanks

On this date, July 4th, 233 years ago, the United States Declaration of Independence was signed by the founding fathers of this country. Now, that being as it is, I would like to express my gratitude to the memory of those men, and the ways in which they helped form the country I live in today.

Many people would not classify me as the 'patriotic' type. Personally, I think a lot of people have a skewed idea of patriotism. A lot of right-wing conservative republicans would consider a lot of my beliefs unpatriotic. For example, I am against our military action in the Middle East, especially in Iraq. I am in favor of gay marriage and abortion rights. I am a pretty liberal person, and to top it all off, I'm pretty much an atheist. As I've said, to many people, this is very un-american of me. And again I say, if those are the factors that are used in defining patriotism, I think that's a pretty skewed definition of the word.

Be that as it may, I consider myself a pretty patriotic person. I don't always agree with the things our government does, but there are a great many things that I am grateful for, and those things are unique to the Western World ideology, if not exclusively unique to the US itself.

The most important thing I can think of that the US has over many other countries in the world is the right to choose. Our Bill of Rights, established over 200 years ago, gives us choices. With some limitations, we have been enabled to speak freely, defend ourselves, choose a manner of worship (or lack thereof), choose some of our legal rights (such as not incriminating oneself in court, and the right to choose one's own laywer). These articles also protect us from injustice, such as cruel and unusual punishment, and the abolition of human slavery.

All in all, I am incredibly thankful for those people in United States' History who have helped form the country as it is today, and I am thankful to those people are are attempting to reform aspects of it today. One of the greatest things about America is it's ability to grow and change, and I will be forever grateful that I live in a country where the freedoms I take for granted are truly free.