By MYRON HEUER
We seem to forget sometimes why we celebrate the Fourth of July.
In addition to the picnics and fireworks, there is our country's Declaration of Independence. Maybe, it'd be proper to read this hallowed document and see what the celebration is all about.
The Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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: that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it's the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its power to such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Old-timers should remember having to recite this declaration along with the Gettysburg Address in grade school, in some cases memorizing them.