Declaring our independence was just the first of a lot of very difficult steps on the way to getting us “united.”  After declaring us independent, our now-deified founders spent almost a dozen years engaged in bloody battles and sending John Jay and James Madison and Alexander Hamilton from colony to colony trying to get everyone on the same page to sign off on  the Constitution.

You see, those thirteen colonies saw themselves as discrete and independent too.  A lot like European countries.

And now, the country we declared ourselves independent from has also declared itself independent from the rest of the European Union and sees us as its greatest ally.

Independence can be a good thing.  Sadly, these days, hardly anyone admires adult offspring who live in their parent’s basement well into their forties. Or a neighbor who borrows a cup of sugar week after week.

Still helpfulness, neighborliness, and generosity go a long way, on your block, in your family, and globally.  We just need our friends and family.  Think: “This fragile Earth, Our Island Home.”

Elderly parents will eventually need someone to move back into the basement to lend a hand.  Younger English citizens love their European passports with freedom to travel and work any where in “The United States of Europe.”  Can you imagine needing passports and different currency to drive from Oregon to California?  Well, okay.  So that was a bad example.

Seems to me that, with the exception of Donald Trump, most of the people who are in favor of building walls on our borders are “deeply religious.”  But, you know, borders are arbitrary and man-made.  Not ordained by God.  I sure hope young Mr. Trudeau doesn’t get it into his head to build a wall because too many of us like his single-payer health care plan and are fleeing Palo Alto for Saskatoon.

We Yanks do love our independence, and we know it didn’t come easy.  Visited the cemetery here a few days ago.

Of course, I am a woman, totally lacking in testosterone, so I don’t really embrace the concept of war.  I think conversation is just a better way to address differences of opinion.

I think this one below is my favorite picture illustrating freedom and independence:  Two little girls singing patriotic songs in front of a national monument, not constrained by their gender or attire or age.

God Bless America. Land that I love.   With liberty and justice  — for whom?  You know the answer to that one.