We live in a society that puts great value in “security.”
That’s not bad in itself, unless we take it too far.
We value safety. We value Social Security. We caution our children to “be careful,” “slow down” and “not take unnecessary chances.” We believe in insurance. We fortunately have a variety of “safety nets” to help us avoid or overcome potentially undesirable consequences.
So it is difficult, in our relatively secure society today, to understand those people who gathered in Philadelphia to write, and sign on July 4, 1776, one of the most dangerous — and revolutionary — documents in the history of the world.
We honor it today as our Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies from one of the world’s greatest military powers of that time, Great Britain.
What in the world was John Hancock thinking when he — and others — said, “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor” to the risky, seemingly almost impossible, enterprise of gaining American independence!
But aren’t you glad they did? An independent republic!
We had to win it.
Benjamin Franklin warned, “If you can keep it.”