On this busy day full of patriotic activities with friends and family, it behooves us to take a step back to also celebrate why we live in this great country: the United States.

How we came to live here could be in a number of ways: some of us were born here, others were born abroad with a right to citizenship, some derived citizenship, and still others chose to become citizens of this country. And while to many US citizens this right came by birth with little effort on their part, for a vast number of citizens this has been achieved only by choice through no small amount of work and sacrifice. What a privilege it is to have this choice!

If you have the privilege of living in this country remember to look around you today while you're at the park or the beach, and take in the variety of people there with you. You'll probably wonder how they all got here, but you'll most likely not ask yourself why they are here because it's the single thing we all have in common living in the good ol' USA: to have the best quality of life we know to be available.

Live, let live and be thankful for this privilege.