The United States of America will shortly celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the document that began the most significant political experiment in centuries, if not millennia.
My old pastor has said often, “Break down world history into 500-year time slots. Which time slot do you want to live in?” The answer must be the one we live in. It’s truly an amazing time to exist. Well America as an independent country has existed exactly half of that time slot.
And this year I will have lived for 20% of the 250 years America has existed. It’s an interesting thought that I’ve lived for 20% of the lifespan of the nation I live in. I’ve lived to see a significant portion of the experiment personally. I’ve lived retrospectively looking back at the 80% that occurred before my existence. Our nation has changed a lot in my short life. Some good, some bad. Technology has rapidly advanced. Politics has shifted. Religion has grown, shifted and been reimagined.
I have wrestled with the thought that I may live to see the end of this great experiment. That my children and grandchildren (hopefully one day) will most likely see this. Are we truly on the ‘Eve of Destruction” as I imagine? That song was written in 1965, more than a decade before I was born. And yet here we still are. Maybe this great experiment will continue for another 250 years.
I’m certain the 56 men who eventually signed the Declaration of Independence from Britain never imagined the America we live in today. 56 men changed the future and the world. They started a Revolution that would eventually lay the foundation of one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations to ever exist. Ironic considering they were seeking to escape the British Empire, that their foundational efforts would lead to a world empire.
11 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document for the United States of America was penned. In response to a question regarding the ‘type of new government’ we had, Benjamin Franklin is credited to have said, “A Republic if you can keep it.”
We have kept it for 250 years now. I’m not convinced we can keep it for 250 more. But I’m blessed that God chose this time, this place and this nation for me to be born into and live in. Only 3.6% of the current world population was born in America.
I’ve been blessed to have travelled 45 of our 50 states. I’ve served our nation’s military, travelling the world with them. I’ve been blessed to be part of the industrial manufacturing world that has brought endless variety and prosperity to not just Americans but the World. I’ve seen the outpouring of the fruit of the document signed by 56 men a quarter of a millennia ago.
America has been, for me, and is for everyone blessed to live here, a land of opportunity. Which is not to say it’s always easy or comfortable. I certainly have seen my fair share of hardship, both personal and external in my 20% life. But the doors of potential have always been there.
And in truth, today the life of your average American is better than the life of the King we declared our independence from. By every measurable standard if you are American, you have lived your entire life in the top 10% (actually more) of all humanity ever.
I pray my children and my children’s children will continue to be blessed by the road paved by those who came before them. That this great experiment will not fail any time soon. That the world will see many more years of blessing from what was created by 56 men committing high treason against the British Crown.
