We are marking an unusual Fourth of July holiday this year. Blame the pandemic for the lack of big backyard barbecues, beach parties and fireworks displays. 
I was doing my morning radio show Friday, July 3rd, and listening to a Yale historian who was talking about America being “unfinished.” This country, he said, is a work-in-progress. He referred to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, when the president, remembering those who died on the battlefield said, “ It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” The historian, David Blight, said we tend to think this country sprung up in a fairly pristine condition. History shows the creation of this country was messy and it continues to be. When it comes to making changes, big changes, America has lurched into it’s next stages of growth, usually after a terrible crisis.
Doesn’t that sound like most of us? Aren’t we unfinished works in progress? If we’re lucky, we are. When we look back, we find our most fertile stages of growth usually come after stiff trials and painful events. That’s why running from that which is uncomfortable in life leads to diminished living.
My hope, as I breathe my last in this world, is that I would have evolved to become the human I was
destined to be. The odds are I won’t hit the mark, but the task is in the trying.
Happy Fourth! Celebrate being unfinished. I will be!
Tell me how you’re able to handle growth and change and who you hope to become by replying to this post or sending a message to www.endinmindproject.org
