Independence

Happy Fourth of July to my American friends! I think these thoughts on independence are pretty generic though, so they apply to us all, Yanks, Aussies, Canooks, etc. eh? Grab a burger, corn on the cob and homemade ice cream and ponder these:

The greatest gifts you can give your children
are the roots of responsibility
and the wings of independence.
~Denis Waitley~

It's easy to be independent when you've got money.
But to be independent when you haven't got a thing
-- that's the Lord's test.
~Mahalia Jackson~

There's always free cheese in the mouse traps,
but the mice there ain't happy.
~Anonymous~

"God who gave us life gave us liberty.
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure
when we have removed their only firm basis,
a conviction in the minds of the people
that these liberties are of the Gift of God?"
~Thomas Jefferson, 1781~

"I do not believe in a fate
that will fall on us no matter what we do.
I do believe in a fate
that will fall on us if we do nothing. ...
Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength.
And let us renew our faith and our hope."
~Ronald Reagan~

“Independence? That's middle class blasphemy.
We are all dependent on one another,
every soul of us on earth.”
~George Bernard Shaw ~