As we get ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding with fanfare, fireworks and parades. I would like to highlight a phrase in the Declaration of Independence that I believe is worth celebrating. For context the
second paragraph begins “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The phrase is “pursuit of Happiness” and it is important to understand the context of its meaning. In 1815, the head of a boarding school in Maine wrote to Thomas Jefferson asking for some wisdom to pass along to his students. Jefferson responded by sending a passage from Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, “If the Wise, be the happy
man, “he must be virtuous too; for, without virtue, happiness cannot be.” So, Jefferson viewed the pursuit of happiness as a lifelong quest for character improvement, which required a commitment to practicing the daily habits that
lead to self-regulation, emotional intelligence, integrity and respect. Understood in these terms, happiness is always something to be pursued rather than obtained—a quest rather than a destination.
He believed that the pursuit of happiness regards freedom not as boundless liberty to do whatever feels good in the moment, but as bounded liberty to make wise choices that will help us best develop our capacities and talents over the
course of our lives. He also believed that the pursuit of happiness includes responsibilities as well as rights—the responsibility to limit ourselves, restrain ourselves, have integrity so that we achieve the wisdom and harmony necessary for true freedom.
When we pursue happiness, we are building stronger connections with friend sand family which in turn builds stronger communities, which in turn builds a stronger Nation. While the July 4th date is symbolic of our independence and the start of our country, it was also the start of building our America’s character. It is this character of America and Americans that we are really celebrating on July 4th. While we all may have differing views on the best path forward for our country deep down, we all want to improve ourselves and America.
By pursuing happiness let our quest be to stay committed to improving ourselves and our country for our friends, families, communities and future generations. That would be a true cause of celebration.