We're only half way through 2016 and there is already so much hate that we will remember for a long time.

It's a hate that keeps two people from loving each other and even scaring them away from admitting that they do. It's a hate that doesn't understand the views and religions of other countries and sees mass murder as the only way to overcome its fear. And most of all, it's a hate that's divided a country between those who want to "Make America Great Again," those who believe "Hillary for America" will do just that and those who feel both candidates will make America worse.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

We are faltering... to the point where one our biggest states wants to secede for the second time. It's called #Texit, a hashtag used by Texans pushing their state to secede. The movement was inspired by Brexit. When Britain left the European Union, some people in Texas decided it was just the right kind of empowerment that they were looking for to leave the United States.

And okay, I know it's unlikely that the Lone Star State will ever be a "lone state," but if its citizens, and any other U.S. citizens, for that matter, want to leave the country after the presidential election, they won't have to travel very far. A nation right next door is offering them residency.

O Canada! America's new home and future native land! Back in February, Canada announced that if Trump becomes president, U.S. citizens wanting to leave the country are invited to live in Cape Breton, a Canadian Island on the East Coast.

There was a time when we were the greatest country in the world, and you can argue that we still are. But to me, when other countries notice we are struggling and even offer us residency, we are no longer the greatest country in the world.

This Monday is the Fourth of July, our Independence Day. It's a day where we celebrate the victory of our immigrant ancestors who fought and who died to make us a new and free nation.

"Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land. Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation... O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." - Star Spangled Banner

While it may be hard to see right now with costly education, a shortage of jobs, debates on gun control, same-sex marriage, abortion, immigration... It's overwhelming.

But there is still truth to those words in our national anthem. In fact, there's proof in the month of June, alone.

Victory? For the first time in U.S. history, a woman became a presidential candidate. Whether you like Hillary or not, this is still a major step towards a more equal nation. Peace? After the traumatizing, and unspeakably terrible shootings in Orlando, people around the country traveled to Florida to pay their respects to the victims. They fought the cruel intentions of an angry man and his deadly bullets with their hands joined in prayer and flowers resting at their feet.

Lately there has been a great amount of destruction... but there also has been a great amount of good.

So on Monday, while you celebrate this preserved nation with your loved ones, remember how we came to be but also how we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave.