•  Watch a fireworks display.

•  Read or listen to the Constitution.

•  Read or listen to the Declaration of Independence.

•  Visit a National Monument.

•  Read writings from the Founding Fathers.

•  Play a game of baseball.

•  Grill hamburgers and hot dogs.

•  Churn some homemade ice cream.

•  Bake an apple pie.

•  Sing the national anthem.

•  Thank God for the freedoms you enjoy as an American.

•  Put up a flag pole.

•  Stand with someone who is suffering injustice.

•  Listen to patriotic music.

•  Say the Pledge of Allegiance.

•  Salute the Stars and Stripes.

•  Share stories of our history with the next generation.

•  Conserve and protect our natural resources for America's people.

•  Write a letter or send a card to thank those who have and are
    protecting our American freedoms.

•  Write a patriotic poem, song, or story that tells others how and why
    you are proud to be an American.

•  Be a good citizen and faithfully preserve America for those who will
    come after you.

•  Enjoy and celebrate our beautiful country.

Today, we are gathered together
To honor the beloved cornerstones of our great nation.
As we remember the early days when America was but a dream
We are reminded of the needs that drove men, women and children to leave their home lands and travel to this new land:
Promises of religious freedom, the choice to serve their God as they saw fit
Promises of great opportunity, the chance to secure earnings based on individual work production
Promises of political strength, the right to choose leaders and employ them to represent their best interests
Promises of familial heritage, the ability to homestead land and secure futures for their children’s children
Promises of individual rights, the power to become whoever and go wherever their dreams and hard work led them.
What a country this new land was planned to be
And it all started with people just like you and me -
Fathers who were willing to lay down their lives so their children might live free
Mothers who were willing to make grave sacrifices so their family might grow free
Children who were willing to follow their parents so their future could be free.
What made the promises in this new country possible?
Was it the land, the climate, the wealth, the poverty?
Was it the vast open spaces one could claim as their own?
Was it the readily available natural resources one could use to construct their homes?
Was it the virgin soil that could be tilled and planted to grow their food?
To some extent each of these became critical ingredients that would fashion and build the infrastructure of our great country.
But, what made it work?
What made immigrants from every corner of the earth come together to form one nation under God?
Freedom.
What made men, women and children risk their lives to travel to this far away land with little more than dreams, determination and dedication as their travel companions?
Family.
What made the founders pen the documents that created, formed and preserved the ideals of the original settlers?
Inalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And, my fellow Americans, what did they find here?
The American Dream.
The dream that whether you sleep or wake allows you to write your own destiny.
The dream that turns hard work, toil and lost sleep into riches that only its possessor can rightly value.
The dream that at its pinnacle enables families to grow, thrive, and build future generations.
The American Dream.
Its strength and its weakness is determined by the leaders who shape it.
Its future and its preservation is protected by the people who live it.
Its purpose and its fulfillment is realized by the families who find it.
Have you found it?
Cling to it with your life for its frailty grows and its security weakens daily with the apathy and indifference of those commissioned to protect it.
Or, have you, like millions, laid it down?
Have you squandered the treasured heritage of your fathers?
Have you missed the opportunity of realizing your dreams?
Have you failed to recognize the many faces of the American Dream?
Be not dismayed.
This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The same needs that drove the original Americans to travel from far and wide to come to this great land
Are the same needs that will drive the brave hearted to stay, to work, to dream,
To carry on the dreams of our fathers
To find the dreams of our generation,
And to preserve the dreams of the generations to come.
All is not lost.
Our land can be healed.
The American Dream is not just a document, a memory, a fleeting law or program that can be overturned, reversed or amended.
It is individuals building alongside individuals.
It is shared freedom, an understanding that my freedom ends where yours begins.
It is about needs.
It is about us, you and I.
We who experienced the miraculous conception of life in this great land and we who answered the beckoning call of Lady Liberty crying out across the world,
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teaming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
We are the American Dream.
The golden door of the American Dream is opened to each of us.
We simply need dream it again.
As we pause today to honor the cornerstones of our country,
Let us not forget those who have gone before, those who serve today, and those who will lead tomorrow.
Let us not minimize the strength of the individual and the stabilizing effect of the family.
Let us build on that stability and rebuild and reclaim that which we have lost.
Let the coming days be the greatest in the history of our great land.
Let the American Dream become a dream for all Americans.
Today let us honor America.
Tomorrow let America honor us.
May her people forever dream in this land where dreams do come true.
God bless America and God Bless You!
Authored by Donna Nickerson. ©2011 Copyright Mount N. All Rights Reserved. www.mountn.org