TheWordWire.com: Happy Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness

Happy Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness


Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence Jefferson Memorial, Washington DC Photo: TheWordWire

I took this photo a few years ago during a visit to Washington DC. It's an excerpt from the US Declaration of Independence engraved in the wall of the Jefferson Memorial. The same week I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the original document was signed.

Can you imagine what it might have been like to roll up your sleeves and draft the official "about us" on behalf of a nation? Thanks Thomas Jefferson. Nice work.

It's not his work alone, of course. There were 56 men who contributed to the ideas. That's a pretty big meeting. And there were lots of them — long and contentious. At some point in your work life you've probably participated on a committee that gives you some frame of reference for the kind of headache getting consensus on these ideas must have been.

Hey, I know whatever you were working on was important — The theme of this year's company picnic or mission statement of the moment. But the folks in these meetings were risking death by committing treason. Some of them ultimately ended up paying that price. It was kind of a big deal.

So today I'm thinking about them. Wonder what they thought we'd be celebrating 233 years later? Each of us probably has a different idea of what it means to be an American, and that's part of the genius of "The Great Experiment." Freedom.

Happy Independence Day to America. Happy life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to to all of you, today and beyond.