“We are, each of us, angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing each other.”
~ Luciano Decrescenzo
The 4th of July—the birth of our nation and a date marking a world-change, where a collective people came together in support of one another—to fulfill a dream of how life should and can be. A nation began its flight of democracy with its people knowing it to be time to embrace and share wings.
Our founding fathers put together documents birthing our sovereignty, celebrating the precept that much of our happiness is contingent on others—with an awoken conscience sensitive to how our acts and behaviors precipitate either hindrance or exaltation of our fellow citizens’ dreams and aspirations.
Embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution words speak across the ages and inspire the imagination with enlightened concepts of a societal bond, bolstering the dream of equality and dignity. For 238 years inspired words echo across our valleys, towns, cities, mountains and plains—for every ear to hear and for every heart to enfold and hold true. America grew and strove through a struggling respect and acceptance of immutable girders of our country’s strength:
“…The sacred rights of mankind”
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“…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
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“…equal station to which the Laws of Nature
and of Nature’s God entitle. ”
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“…we mutually pledge to each other
our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Now, skipping forward nearly two and a half centuries, and having swelled in population from 2.5 million to 318 million, that dream for a flourishing life as envisioned during America’s formation remains.
The quest for this dream and its possibility has been confirmed and verified by science. Just as we needed a foundation for a flourishing nation, this nation of principal and integrity only exists if, collectively, we have a flourishing people. To achieve this state of individual fulfillment the emergent science of Positive Psychology and Human Development has given us a glimpse of strategic process.
According to empirical support, newly proven truths have become “self evident”…if you want happiness and fulfillment in life, if you want a flourishing life—other people matter. Close relationships with family and friends provide love, meaning, support and increase our feelings of self worth. Whether these connections are with our partners, families, friends, colleagues, neighbors or people throughout the community—all contribute to and affect our happiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction.
Our dependency on others shows up in the simplicity of savoring a meal together, laughing in a fun companionship, or reaching out in kindness to help someone in need.
Science has proven that diverse social connections predict how long we live and even impacts how resistant we are to disease and sickness. According to the 70+ year Harvard Men Study conducted by Psychologist George Valiant researching the life circumstances and personal characteristics that distinguishes the happiest, fullest lives from the least successful one, Valiant concluded that:
“Our relationships with other people matter and matter more than anything else in the world.”
In yet another study conducted by Harvard lecturer Shawn Achor evidence showed that:
“Social support was a far greater predictor of happiness than any other factor, more than GPA, family income, SAT scores, age, gender or race.”
The moral dimension of being kind, generous and giving provides us a source of power, strength and resiliency. We develop a coping and survival mechanism to achieve and flourish in the ways we have been searching, and coincidentally, in concert with our nation’s founding principals.
As Lady Liberty faces out to the ocean in New York Harbor welcoming the tens of millions that have approached our shores, she gracefully provides the world with a message. I suggest that this is not a message just imprinted on a neoclassical copper, wrought iron statue; this is a message from a people; a message from you and a message from me and a message best spoken by our 318 million American citizens:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
As we arise to a fresh world tomorrow morning, it would be a thing of wonder if each and all of us were to go to our front door and embracing our loved ones, look out to our neighbors, to our community, to our country and to all of mankind—and just as the Statue of Liberty itself gracefully provides the world with a message—we too support our country and our individual potential with a personal message—a message of gratitude; with a plan for frequent and quality time with friends and loved ones; with a decision to perform acts of kindness to acquaintances, neighbors and strangers; and with a pledge to approach our fellow world citizens within a foundation of understanding and kindness.
And oh yes, wish my brother Chuck happy birthday. He, like our country, was born on the 4th of July. And for him I have much gratitude and cannot wait to spend some quality birthday time in his and in our nation’s celebration!