The Voyagers

 This blog is about our life as a family unit, and our joy in life. In this blog, I try to stay away from politics, religions, world news, because that isn't what this blog is about. But, obviously, something happened in Colorado today that has touched the world. 

It's no secret that this is a difficult time for most of the world. This is a difficult time for our country, but also for so many other countries. Virtually no one is unaffected. These are uncertain times, these are frightening times. And so each new blow seems to echo far more loudly than before. 

What happened today was yet another shattering event in what has been an unusually difficult year for our state. Colorado is usually a happy place - a level place, a place that often feels very distant from strife. We have a beautiful, temperate climate. We have lovely living conditions. We have, in the past, had plenty of jobs, plenty of opportunity, a terrific real estate market. People here are, as a whole, athletic, outdoorsy, easy-going and full of good will. But this year, we have suffered from extreme drought, killer wildfires, economic distress (like the rest of the world), and senseless violence.

I don't have any great words with which to address all of this. 

But I thought that today would be a good day to (finally) post a few of our photos from the 4th of July, which we spent in Vail with our extended family. 

From my viewpoint, this has been a time to reflect on what we have done wrong as a nation, and to try to recapture what has been so great about our nation in the past, and focus on that. It's time to rally, sacrifice, honor and rebuild. It's time to change the ways in which we have gone wrong. It's time to learn once again from our rich history, and figure out how to get back on a better path. 

In that light, I'll post these pictures from the celebration - here in Colorado - of our nation's difficult beginnings.

Let's remember the strife from which - and why - we were born as a nation. 

Let's remember that progress comes only at a cost. 

Let's remember that progress is a process, not a destination. Let's recall that none of us is perfect, that we are all flawed, and that no one of us has "the answer".

Let's struggle, and give things up, and learn to live a different way, and learn to sacrifice for this amazing planet that we are fortunate enough to inhabit.

 Let's make it happen, in spite of the odds, in spite of the horrors that sometimes face us, because all these children need hope. They need to have a beautiful world to live in. They need to know love and hardship and sacrifice and the triumph of the human spirit over all of that.

 As a nation, we are very privileged. Yes, even now. Even now, as a nation, we have virtually no concept of that which other nations have suffered.

 This is my daughter, who was abandoned after only two or three days of life, because her birth family couldn't afford to take care of her needs. She knows this. Oh, she does. She doesn't like to discuss it, but she is well aware. She now lives in a country where her medical needs are marginally more manageable. But she understands the fragility of her position in this world. She thinks about it every day. Every day, she worries that some circumstance might come between her and the stability that she has tenuously achieved.

 Our nation has been a great nation, a proud nation, a headstrong nation. We have much to be proud of, and we also have much to regret. We have triumphed against the odds, but we have also forgotten ourselves and become greedy, careless, wasteful.

 All is not lost. We are a scrappy people, we Americans. We can come back. We just have to really want it.

So let's remember. Let's recall why we became a nation to begin with. Let's remember how much we gave up, and how hard we fought. Let's acknowledge that we got lazy, got greedy, felt entitled, and lost our way. Let's fight, sacrifice, rise above, and once again become a nation that we can all be proud of. 

What do you say?