INDEPENDENCE PRECIOUS AFTER 222 YEARS

This is the weekend set aside for Americans to celebrate Independence Day, without question one of the most glorious of our holidays. Surely it is more than an occasion for just another getaway to the lake or to a ballgame, important as those diversions are to hardworking Americans.

The Fourth of July, and the weekend that wraps around it this year, finds America prosperous and at peace. Still, it wasn't always so, and won't always be again. This, the most blessed among all nations, was born a tiny colony in the crucible of war against the most powerful nation in the world. In the ensuing 222 years American heroes have reluctantly taken up arms many times rather than submit to tyranny and degradation, to shame and dishonor.

Always, when Americans are forced to do this, it is with pride in and inspiration from the imperishable example of the Founders. These brave, freedom-loving men risked everything they had in their bold stand for freedom from the British crown. By signing their names to the Declaration of Independence, each knew he would be hunted as a criminal, guilty of treason by that single act.

As men of substance and property, each had much to lose. Many lost everything, some including their lives and those of beloved family members. But when the time came for testing, each signer was as good as his pledge of "... our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

You seldom hear public figures talking that way these days. The time, though, will come again when America needs such unflinching devotion to duty and principle. When it does, those who answer the call of duty and honor will be inspired, as we are this weekend, by the signers of the Declaration and the liberty they bequeathed to us all.