Happy 4th of July from the Shattered Lens!

I love Independence Day.  I love spending time with my family.  I love watching the fireworks at Breckenridge Park.  I even love listening to my town’s orchestra as they play the same patriotic songs year after year.

I don’t care how fashionable it is to attack America or to say that this country has never been great.  We all know the truth.  Is America perfect?  No, but no country is.  Are we having tough times right now?  Yes, but so is the rest of the world.  The idea behind America is great.  The ideals of America are great.  Sometimes, we have failed to live up to those ideals but that doesn’t make those ideals any less worthy.  The more people try to take us down, the more I remember everything that we’ve survived.  America has made mistakes.  America still has work to do.  Celebrating America does not mean ignoring the times when the nation failed to live up to its ideals.  But don’t ever think America isn’t great.

What isn’t great is shooting off fireworks at three in the morning.  Celebrate America but respect your neighbors!

Happy birthday, America!