The Fourth of July has come and gone. I thought about writing and wishing this wonderful country a happy birthday. Then I thought... that wasn't enough. So there was some thinking to be done, and some soul-searching along with the thinking. History. Love. Hope. Treason. Loyalty. Anger. Too many wars, I think. Dissension and agreement. Doubts and certainties. Laughter and tears. Helping hands and welcoming hearts. Even taken together, those words do not begin to explain this country, its people, its greatness, or its enduring value. Two hundred and fifty years. About 245 years longer than many expected it to survive. After all, it was little more than a bold experiment in a world that was deeply suspicious of experiments like this one. Yet somehow, despite every prediction and every detractor, it endured. And it continued. And will continue. I became part of this ongoing experiment some sixty-four years ago. More by circumstance than by choice. My family sent a frightened ...