Two hundred and forty-two years ago, our founding fathers declared our independence from England and the “great American experiment” was born. We would be challenged again with the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Recent history is marked by 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing, school shootings and last week’s attack at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. It seems we are in the midst of another major challenge to our democracy with the polarization of America and the civil discord we see playing out everyday in the news. Yet history shows our republic has had to withstand significant challenges throughout its history and somehow always managed to prevail and in most cases emerging stronger than before. ‘

Which brings me to my reflections for this holiday about our country and its future inspired by a Time magazine article titled, The New Patriotism by Richard Stengel where he writes,

“What we need going forward is third-way patriotism, a new patriotism that blends the faith of our fathers with, as Lincoln said, the unfinished work remaining before us. That new patriotism, as Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer write in The True Patriot, means ‘appreciating not only what is great about our country but also what it takes to create and sustain greatness.’ …America has a greatness of purpose that no other nation does, and that for all our achievement, our greatest tasks remain before us.”