independence delayed

So... July Fourth came and went. I'm only beginning now to think about the meaning of it, especially since I remembered that I watched "National Treasure" recently. Implausible movie, Indiana Jones style, but still, something was said that I found important. "A toast? To high treason. That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration." That's what the whole thing was about. I never thought about it before, but someone had to have the idea: "Hey, I'm sick of this King stuff." Someone grew up hearing stories from the classics, Athens, Sparta, Rome. They heard about how people could make their own choices and govern themselves. And they said, we should do that. We should try a form of government that hasn't been used in 1700 years. And we should risk our lives to do it.

Do you realize how crazy, insane that sounds? And yet, delegates from each of the 13 colonies signed it, and were willing to risk everything for it. It makes one wonder. Could anything that revolutionary possibly take place today? I think people would have to change drastically in order for them to be able to try to do something so drastic, interrupting their daily lives like that. Anyway... that's just tonight's roaming thought. Partly brought on by my trip to DC, partly from National Treasure, and partly from an email I recieved containing the full text of the Declaration of Independence.

Off to bed for me. Night!