My friend David Sutherland (President, Sutherland Partnership, Inc. and Chairman, Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services) posted the following question on LinkedIn this morning: "What will you be reflecting on while you recognize our nation’s freedom and your own patriotism?" Here is my response, to which I appended the url to the previous blog on this page.
"Great post, Dave. One thing for sure: I'm grateful for the opportunity we had to serve our country together. But I was thinking of this exact question when I saw your post, and what I had come up with were two things. First, every July 4th, I am reminded of the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence: "And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." Second, I constantly remind myself that the genius of our founders was in creating a system of procedural justice aimed firmly at the goal of a society wherein all are treated equally before the law. That system has never created perfectly just outcomes--not at the beginning and not now. But it does give us the chance to continually make things better, and to fix our mistakes. And it is our duty--for each of us--to evaluate and do our part to make that system work. Whatever problems or challenges there may be, we have the power to fix them. Happy Independence Day, my friend."
I hope you all have a terrific July 4th.
"Great post, Dave. One thing for sure: I'm grateful for the opportunity we had to serve our country together. But I was thinking of this exact question when I saw your post, and what I had come up with were two things. First, every July 4th, I am reminded of the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence: "And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." Second, I constantly remind myself that the genius of our founders was in creating a system of procedural justice aimed firmly at the goal of a society wherein all are treated equally before the law. That system has never created perfectly just outcomes--not at the beginning and not now. But it does give us the chance to continually make things better, and to fix our mistakes. And it is our duty--for each of us--to evaluate and do our part to make that system work. Whatever problems or challenges there may be, we have the power to fix them. Happy Independence Day, my friend."
I hope you all have a terrific July 4th.
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