{"id":1713,"date":"2015-07-04T01:34:55","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T01:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2015-07-03T23:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T23:56:52","slug":"happy-fourth-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy Fourth of July!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"American<\/a>I have always loved the Fourth of July. As a student of Early American History, I especially like revisiting the events surrounding the Declaration of Independence and framing of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the remarkable men and women who were able to set aside their differences long enough to come together to birth a brand new Nation. Amazing! And a lesson for us all, today.<\/p>\n

Some would say that the 18th Century was so long ago, and times have changed so very much, that it doesn’t make sense to think anything about Early America would be relevant to us, now. However, that is completely wrong. True, technology, science, architecture, and other disciplines have advanced – but in many ways, they have advanced to what they are today because of the innovations developed by people like Benjamin Franklin “way back” in the 18th Century. Political Science and Economics have certainly churned out many more “theories” of societal and commercial organization since John Locke, Thomas Paine, and others penned their own. But even these can trace their roots back to “older times,” in some cases even farther back than the mid- to late-18th Century.<\/p>\n

We might think that our present day accomplishments are amazing – but consider how, without the “modern” technology we now have, medical advances, and conveniences such as the Internet and automobiles, our Nation was settled, organized, and established! If our Founding Fathers and Mothers could do all that they did in their day without modern plumbing, air conditioning, hospitals, and refrigeration, well, perhaps our accomplishments need to be put in a little more humble perspective.<\/p>\n

And as for the religious roots of this Nation, well, I cringe when I hear people say that America was not built on faith. True, there were different and sometimes conflicting varieties of believers (and superimposed upon the indigenous peoples’ practices, too, sometimes). But this entire Nation from the beginning, was steeped in faith, God, belief, and a sense of morality that I hope we do not lose. From Franklin to Jefferson to Lincoln, the “greats” of our country might have individually held different beliefs from any given organized religion. But they all believed in and nurtured relationships with God.<\/p>\n

If we lose sight of our history, we risk becoming overly eogtistical. And when we take on that cloak of superiority, the feeling that we do not need God or anything else besides one another to tell us how things should be, we truly risk tripping over our own fallibility and flawed humanity and\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>truly advancing. But when we learn about how things were then, how people thought, behaved, lived, and what they believed, we see how important it is to connect through the centuries, not disconnect – and to keep faith. We can make our world better knowing the mistakes of the past – and also the incredible, inspiring successes that come from people striving to do good for a greater purpose.<\/p>\n

Successes like this wonderful Nation – blessed, good, beautiful, and, yes, formed through faith.<\/p>\n

A very happy Fourth \u00a0of July to you!<\/p>\n

And, peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always loved the Fourth of July. As a student of Early American History, I especially like revisiting the events surrounding the Declaration of Independence and framing of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the remarkable men and women who were able to set aside their differences long enough to come together to birth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1789,1790,1788,1787,1117,1785,1786],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-benjamin-franklin","tag-early-america","tag-faith-and-america","tag-faith-and-us","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-our-founding-fathers-and-mothers","tag-our-nation-and-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nHappy Fourth of July! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Fourth of July! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have always loved the Fourth of July. As a student of Early American History, I especially like revisiting the events surrounding the Declaration of Independence and framing of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the remarkable men and women who were able to set aside their differences long enough to come together to birth…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-04T01:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-03T23:56:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/American-Flag-by-Michael-Elliott-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy Fourth of July! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy Fourth of July! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"I have always loved the Fourth of July. As a student of Early American History, I especially like revisiting the events surrounding the Declaration of Independence and framing of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the remarkable men and women who were able to set aside their differences long enough to come together to birth…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-07-04T01:34:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-03T23:56:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/American-Flag-by-Michael-Elliott-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html","name":"Happy Fourth of July! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/American-Flag-by-Michael-Elliott-300x199.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-04T01:34:55+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-03T23:56:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/American-Flag-by-Michael-Elliott-300x199.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/American-Flag-by-Michael-Elliott-300x199.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/happy-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy Fourth of July!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}