Happy Thanksgiving, America!

No.. I'm not crazy.  I mean that.  Happy Thanksgiving, America.

You see, 234 years ago today, some very brave men approved a document which resulted in the United States of America.  The Declaration of Independence, signed by treasonous British subjects, stating opposition to the tyranny foisted on the American Colonials by England's King George III stated the case for freedom.  It left nothing to the imagination.  It was very clear in its meaning.

When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

So they all signed the document - 56 of them.  As they signed, they were committing treason against England, but they didn't care.  In their opinion, their freedom was more important than the crime they were committing.  Because of their determination to be free, we in America today enjoy their legacy - Freedom.

Freedom is not free - it has been bought and paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of patriots through the years who have worn the uniform of military organizations of the United States.  These patriots have fought and many died on American soil and foreign soil to protect the freedoms that our Founding Fathers guaranteed for us.

That makes me incredibly happy and incredibly sad at the same time.  The signers of the Declaration of Independence must have felt much the same way.  They were sad at having to do it and happy that it was done.

So today is Thanksgiving Day.  Let us give thanks to those brave men, long since gone to their reward, who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence.  Let us give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy, but at the same time we must remember the price that was paid for our freedoms.  That cost is what makes our freedoms so special - so important - so remarkable.

Happy birthday, America!