By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

As we close in on our country’s birthday celebration, it’s hard to avoid looking back.

As nations go, obviously, we’re still very young. But we’ve also managed to cram in an awful lot.

Distilled to a montage of moments, the history of the United States would feature both the triumphant and the tragic. There have been disasters both natural and human, as well as moments of pure, unadulterated joy. This is a big country, big enough for those with widely disparate cultures and beliefs to coexist peacefully. Often we do; sadly, sometimes, we don’t.

All the while, however, despite our differences, we have continued to inch forward, always striving to become something better, something — dare we say it? –- perfect.

Are we there yet? No. And we never will be.

‘Perfect,’ after all, changes all the time, from generation to generation. What those living ten — or even just two — generations from now will want may be vastly different from what we strive for today.
A nation can truly be called great, I think, when it is able to hold together through all the turmoil and upheaval and continue to push forward, to grow and change and redefine itself without being torn asunder. Sure we disagree — vehemently at times — but at the core we remain one nation.

Americans have shown the ability throughout the centuries to preserve what our forefathers created, despite living in a world not one of those men would recognize.

And that, certainly, is worth celebrating.