ThirstyFish

This was shot at the same location as last year's 4th of July fireworks photo. If you don't know when, how, whom, why and what 4th of July is about, you can read a quick introduction and find links in that post.

Courage is the quality of the mind to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. "Moral Courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, discouragement, or shame. Although most of us will deny it, many of us lack moral courage. We suppress ourselves to avoid being perceived as wide-eyed (gullible) or wild-eyed (irrational). We corrupt ourselves with the fear of losing titles or things that we have accumulated...

And of course moral courage can also send you to the gallows. The Declaration of Independence encapsulates the moral courage of its signatories at two levels; It proclaims independence from the abuses and usurpations of the Kingdom of Great Britain - an act that would guarantee the execution of the revolutionaries had it not been successful. And more significantly, it sets radical and untested moral standards of governance by declaring that: "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" - ideas that played a role in the American Civil War 85 years later, and continue to be consequential...