In the days following July 4, 1776, crowds gathered in small towns and large throughout the 13 colonies. They came together in public squares, on street corners and in meeting halls to hear words read aloud, words that proclaimed the birth of a new nation.

The stirring assertions of the Declaration of Independence, the ink barely dry on a document that would change the world, prompted loud huzzas and pealing church bells. Celebratory cannon fire echoed across town greens. Newly minted Americans in New York City, acting as a joyous mob, toppled a two-ton statue of King George IIIand melted the lead into 42,008 bullets, according to National Geographic Magazine. Other joyful Americans tossed portraits of the king onto bonfires.

John Adams, in a letter to his wife Abigail, predicted that Independence Day would be celebrated by generations to come as “the great Anniversary Festival. … It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Adams was keenly aware that his fellow Americans, citizens of colonies as disparate in tone and temperament as Virginia and Massachusetts, were a quarrelsome bunch. But Adams also knew that something was stirring across the land. In 1776, he and his fellow Americans not only were celebrating a bold and daring assertion of their freedom, but also their unity. Whatever their differences on that first Independence Day, they were Americans.

And so are we, even after nearly two-and-a-half centuries and despite our clamorous differences. This weekend, as we lift ourselves out of a dangerous, debilitating pandemic, let us celebrate life, the joy of existence and, yes, each other.

The Independence Day point is, we live in community. That connectedness is easy to forget when we allow red-blue political divisions to define us. It’s easy to ignore when we focus our time and energy on bitter disputes, smoldering discontent and toxic divisions. But, as the pandemic should remind us, we rely on each other. We are fellow Americans engaged in what should be a joyful common endeavor.

In the letter to his wife, John Adams came close to apologizing for being “transported with Enthusiasm.” He assured her, though, that he was “well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration. …” But he also assured her of his confidence that “Posterity will triumph.”

We are that posterity. We too are engaged in an ongoing experiment called America. On this Independence Day weekend, we celebrate the joy of life’s renewal. We celebrate together.

— Tribune News Service