I don't have a good photograph that says what I think this Day should be about. I do not think it is about fireworks and being on a holiday. Also, I do not think that our country (the USA) has ever lived up to the Declaration of Independence. And even this document applies only to white men. But its substance should apply to ALL people, no matter who they are; and that especially applies to those on the margins, those at the bottom. I also think that it should include everything that exists on this planet. Everything and everybody is sacred, is holy, and worthy of acceptance, love, freedom, justice, peace and joy. This has been a difficult time for our country (to understate the obvious). However, I am hopeful. What has been happening may well lead to being a nation where justice for all that is becomes more of a reality. We just may realize that there is no real freedom without responsibility and accountability.

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,