On this President’s Day, I’m reminded of our founding fathers and the courageous act of creating and ratifying the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire, but formed a union to become a new nation. This was a bold move on the part of American leaders at the time because the declaration stated that authority to govern belonged to the people, rather than to kings, and that all people are created equal and have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Quite a revolutionary idea in those times! Every U.S. citizen should be familiar with at least this part of the Declaration, which asserted a new future for people living in the American colonies:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
This was a time of great change for the American colonies, where leaders created a new vision for the future. What new vision are you trying to achieve? Taking a page from our founding fathers, what courageous actions might you need to take to achieve that vision?
Anita Rios
Higher EDge 