I'm grateful to be an American.

To me, being American represents so many things. It represents freedom. It represents opportunity. It represents sacrifice and hard work. It represents love of neighbor and stranger. It represents learning and growth and success. It represents me being me and you being you. It gives me the privilege to believe what I believe, feel how I feel, worship how I worship and accept others for those very same privileges that are theirs to enjoy. It seems our country is so focused on rights. Judgement and mean words against those who don't agree with exactly how we feel. It's sad to me how much energy is spent on attacking others. We are all fellow citizens of this same great nation. What a wonderful day it would be if we could set aside our differences and enjoy the rights we already have. The right to vote. The right to choose. The right to think for ourselves. The privilege it is to live in a country in which we have the blessings of freedom. We are America. May we be united in respect and love for the freedom we have, the blessings it brings and the stewardship it gives to uplift one another and be the great nation we were founded to be.