America is like my family. When you're a kid, your family's way of doing things seems to be the only way, the best way. As you grow, you see there are all kinds of families out there, and they all do things differently. Sometimes you wish your family was cool enough to have a trampoline (or, say, universal health care), sometimes you're just grateful your dad doesn't drink (or limit the rights of women). But your family is special, and will always feel like home, and that's how I feel about America. We aren't the best at everything, but it's home, and it's special.
And I am grateful that Maeve will grow up under these spacious skies, amid these amber waves of grain, knowing she can be a writer, an artist, a kindergarten teacher, a successful businesswoman, or the President. I am grateful she is free to choose her own religion, her own politics, and her own destiny. I want her to have an abundance of life, of liberty, and the grand pursuit of happiness, wherever it may lead her.
So today I remember that powerful, freeing document that was signed and ratified, two hundred and thirty-six years ago today, that began to frame our freedom. Amazing how this country was born out of blood, sweat, tears, and a book.
(Check out this link after 9 am Eastern - it's the staff of NPR reading the Declaration of Independence. Always moving.)
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