Freedom to Gather

Normally I write about the problem issues of the day; high gas prices, political shenanigans and governmental snafus. During this political season you hear a lot about what is wrong with America. But on the birthday weekend of this great nation, I want to write about what is great about America.

Two hundred and thirty-two years ago in a hot and humid hall, 56 men of great stature pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare our independence from England.

What they gave us was liberty. The God-given right to be free and to make decisions that guide our lives. Freedom comes with rights and responsibilities. In this country you even have the freedom to make bad decisions. The greatness of this country is derived from the fact that our people have the freedom to improve their lot in life through hard work and discipline. In fact, despite what the politicians want you to believe, with less than 5% of the Earth’s population, we have the largest middle class in the world. Our standard of living, recession or no recession, is second to none and in fact on a world scale we have the wealthiest poor people on the planet. We have safety nets in place so that no one in this country has to go hungry for need of food.

America is not great because of latitude and longitude. It is great because we have the liberty to do as we please as long as we respect the rights of others to do the same.

The right to succeed or fail is completely American. Americans love a comeback story.

This last week I was reminded of what a great country this is. My wife and I packed up the kids and flew back to the Midwest where I grew up to have a family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Righeimer, my four siblings, their spouses and all of their children at my parent’s lake house in Whitewater, Wis. All told, we had 30 people at the house. The ages ranged from 77 for my dad to our youngest, Katherine, who is 2. Whitewater is a typical summer home community that you find on the lakes in southern Wisconsin. Where Southern Californians go to the beach or mountains to get out of the summer heat, Chicagoans head to Wisconsin with their boats and wave runners to cool down and enjoy the summer with family and friends. To get to Whitewater you drive straight north from O’Hare Airport for about two hours. When you get off the interstate in Wisconsin, you set back your watch about 50 years. There is something about getting all of your family together for a long weekend at the lake that feels like 1958. The older cousins are planning weddings; some are finishing high school or college. The younger ones are learning to swim or trying their first time on water skis.

This whole family started 54 years ago when James Joseph Righeimer met my mother Therese Katherine Redican at a friend’s wedding. He was a young high school teacher and football coach, and she worked at an insurance company in downtown Chicago. His father drove a beer truck and her mother came to America as a domestic. Through hard work and second jobs, my mother and father raised all five of us. My father was the original recycler. He had us bring home our lunch bags to be used again. They scrimped and saved and though some took longer than others, we all got college degrees and raised families of our own.

In no other country in the world could this happen. Only in America could a son of a truck driver achieve the American Dream.

On this Fourth of July weekend while we are having fun with family and friends, thousands of America’s finest sons and daughters are in far-off lands protecting us from people in the world who do not like our way of life and have sworn to destroy it. Like some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, some of them will give the ultimate sacrifice to protect the liberty we sometimes take for granted. Just remember while you are popping that cold one, the temperature in Baghdad will be 112 degrees. Please keep them in your prayers.