History provides a reference to help us find hope when we face collective fears and the often negative press. To be newsworthy, events generally are negative or sensational. Even a trivial or false story can spread across the internet instantly and become news. The flash crash, the oil spill in the Gulf, unemployment, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, even our weather news barrage us with overwhelming information that can make us feel uncertain. If we step back over two centuries to when the country was just forming, our issues seem less dramatic. The colonists did face the most powerful empire on earth when they declared their independence and their future was certainly in doubt.

History tells the story of a small, ragtag group of farmers, merchants and traders miraculously won a revolutionary war. The resilience of Americans is our faith and optimism that as individuals we can face our fears and resolve them. At that critical time in 1776, a groups of leaders emerged to galvanize the people to a common purpose. Those colonists soon found hope, strength and courage due to the leadership skills of several famous founding fathers who eloquently articulated a common purpose within a document we know as the Declaration of Independence.

Today, we seem mired in a quicksand of negativity that includes global warming, the housing crisis, unemployment, pandemics plus a scandal laden list of current leaders who too often fail us and their own families. Our past once again teaches us that true heroes are a rare breed. It is the group with common purpose that generates power and the will to accomplish extraordinary things. So it is up to each of us to find the best in ourselves. The human spirit wants to excel. If we remember our ideals then hope must exist and the struggle to be good and honorable is value in itself. Hope is a necessary ingredient to great leadership and to extraordinary movements. We celebrate our country this month and as we do, we also celebrate your American spirit and our ideals.