This picture might not be what you most think of when you think of celebrating freedom. But to me, it’s the best picture of all. You see my son was born in China. His homeland is not free. In fact, daily there are stories of more people being jailed just for talking about freedom.
But today, because my son was adopted into an American home, he is free to spend the day lying on his bed reading to his heart’s content. He is free to enjoy angry birds and the power rangers in equal measure. He’s free to dream and then live out those dreams unencumbered.
Today is a sad day for the thousands of children who have been pouring illegally into the United States over the past few weeks. No matter how they got here, my guess is that they were longing for freedom and opportunity. Today they are housed in large cages waiting for our government to figure out what to do with them.
My heart breaks for those children. I wish I could do something, anything, to get them out of the kennel for people and into homes where honest, hard working, god-fearing people would love them. Although I’ve contacted my congressmen and both senators, I’ve heard nothing in response.
So today we Americans celebrate our freedom with bike rides and pool parties and picnics and book reading. We’ll wrap it all up with baseball and fireworks. It’s so easy to take it for granted isn’t it.
But I don’t and I hope you won’t. I hope you will take the time to be thankful for what you have and the people you have in your life. If you are American, you have blessings and abundance that the majority of the world can only dream of. Let’s show our patriotism by being thankful and grateful and generous. God Bless America.