As the Fourth of July rolls in, we celebrate the birth of our nation. Any six-year-old can tell you what the day is for. But are we missing the point? Every year around this time people take advantage of the long weekend and go away, or they hang out at home and we celebrate by throwing parties and launching fireworks, but I again ask, are we missing the point? Personally, I believe that there is a little more to this that people are neglecting.

On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pa. the 13 colonies of Great Britain finally voiced their frustrations and announced a severance from the Imperial power. For the men who signed their names onto the bottom of the document that was going to end up in the hands of King George knew that there were only two possible outcomes of what they had just done. Option one: the signers were going to be the leading Fathers of a new nation. Option two: they had just signed their own death warrant. However, each name that sat on that document was and expression of the little man being fed up with an oppressive force, and as the ink dried so too started the birth of a new nation. With that now being said, with the risk these men took to start this nation, do hot dogs and burgers capped off with fireworks do this day justice? Again, I answer, not quite.

The way I see it, we are leaving out a key component of the celebration. We fail to acknowledge the risk that the Founding Fathers took to secure our future. I feel that this holiday doesn’t give credit to those who sacrifice themselves for this nation. I feel that with this holiday we need to give thanks to those who put themselves in harm’s way to help secure the future of our nation. With that said, let us all as we celebrate this weekend take a moment and honor those who cannot be home to be with their families; the military who are protecting us from foreign threats, the police helping to keep our homes safe, the fire department helping to keep our homes safe, EMTs who help individuals when in need, and finally, the correctional officers who help to keep the bad guys away from the people. Just keep these first responders in your thoughts as you spend a safe holiday with your families.