In all of the illustrious history of human kind, never has the need for the discussion of independence been so great. Today, humanity is poised on the cusp of a new era and it lies in our hands what the nature of this new era shall become.

As colonialists we abhorred the Crowns of Europe and the very idea of nobility. We rejected the notion that birth alone made one man more equal than another. Today, every man longs to be a king and every woman a queen. Ours has become a nation imprisoned in our own feeble kingdoms by a callous disdain for life, dignity, compassion, and cooperation. We have come to carry on the very empire we sought to rid ourselves of.

The occupied have become the occupiers. The pursuit of happiness gave way to a ceaseless chase. Our freedom and liberty cannibalized the life, liberty and happiness of an entire nation peoples pushing much of the flora and fauna to the brink of extinction along with it.

We traded British taxes for our own. We broke away from indentured servitude to practice slavery and become a nation of wage slaves indebted to financial masters, bowing before corporate demigods and worshiping the golden calf of “ease and convenience” blissfully ignorant. We turn a blind eye to the wake of destruction left by our liberty; predatory financial institutions masquerading as Foreign AID; environmental degradation; continued displacement of indigenous peoples; and forced labor.

Our leaders, repeating the folly of kings, arrogantly wage wars they cannot afford as they watch from their ivory towers indifferent to the atrocities which drive the poor huddling masses of the world to our doorstep only to be scoffed at and turned away – or worse yet imprisoned and swallowed up into the belly of the beast.

There is a myth that freedom yet prevails. It is but a fairy-tale told to small children at bedtime, which belies the true, nature of our bloody past. In truth our independence has atrophied from lack of use.

True independence is having the freedom to exercise choice, yet being responsible for one’s role to attain group cohesion within life’s parameters. To say, “yes” to what works and firmly say, “no” to what does not. True freedom that comes from a reunification into something larger and grander than the individual; freedom from the burden of omnipotence; the freedom to fall down because others are there to help you back up again; the freedom to restore dignity to all life.

Independence comes from boldly facing fear. Taking a step into the unknown forsaking ease and convenience. True independence lies not only within grasp, but also within our own hands. For each and every one of us, every day can be Independence Day.