America has been working on this FREEDOM experiment for 247 years. Flawed from the beginning, imperfect in our evolutions, and yet, there is still no place like America. I am amazed by the gritty determination of close immigrant/refugee friends who believe in the potential of ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness’ more than most Americans. Many flaws that disrupt us are insignificant compared to the environments these friends have escaped.
I have been studying the work of Tim Keller, who has been a pastor for two decades in Manhattan. He passed away from cancer in May. Consider his big idea about being free:
“Human beings are most free and alive in relationships of love. We only become ourselves in love, and yet healthy love relationships involve mutual unselfish service and mutual loss of independence.” –Tim Keller
Can we love our nation AND love our neighbors? If we do the former without the latter, it is possible that we are missing out on true FREEDOM. President John F. Kennedy famously challenged us to ask ourselves what we can do for our country. It will certainly involve unselfish service, and a portion of our independence will need to be sacrificed. We owe it to our ancestors. We owe it to our heirs.
“Freedom, then, is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us.”
Happy Independence Day from the XM Performance Team!! Let’s unselfishly commit to doing our part to make the next 247 years even better.
Cheers to FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE, LIBERTY, LOVE!