Message from the President

 ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

We skipped this week's Summer Series because it fell on July 4th. Nonetheless, around lunchtime I found myself pondering what others were doing for the holiday.
 
Had they found a pool to sit around and cool off in? Had they attended a picnic for hamburgers and watermelon? Had they planned to write something commemorating the day?
 
On Twitter, the people I followed repeated these immortal words:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
 
Arguably the most important words written in the course of human history, establishing the purpose for an act of defiance — treason — they are a foundational philosophy, the expression of deeply-held values.
 
The words are Thomas Jefferson's and he wrote them in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. July 4th was our country's birthday, the day we remember Jefferson's bold assertion "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…"
 
In commemoration, we eat hot dogs and set off fireworks, play John Philip Souza tunes and wear star-spangled T-shirts. We wave flags, congratulate each other on living in the greatest country in the world, and in general feel a sense of national pride.
 
I hope you had a chance to write yesterday, or if not to put fingers-to-keyboard, then a chance to at least observe the language we use to describe ourselves and each other. We are the home of the free and the brave. We are tried and true. We are a continuing experiment in self-governance. Imperfect but ever striving to achieve the dream of our founders:
 
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
 
Happy Independence Day!

Kasie Whitener
President, SCWA Board of Directors