It’s July 4th, 1776.
Think about where America was in that moment: Blood in the streets. A revolution against an empire. Families ripped apart because a war forced them to choose sides. Hopeful successes on the battlefield repeatedly followed by dispiriting defeats. The uncertainty of victory, shrouded in the certainty of death and misery and suffering for what could be years…if they were lucky.
It had only been a year since George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army, and the hardest years were still ahead for the loose coalition of patriots fighting for self-determination.
Fighting, as we would call it today, for their country.
All of this while there wasn’t even a real country to speak of. “America” was just an idea. We were still nearly 13 years away from the election of General Washington as the first American president. In fact, on July 4, 1776, you were more likely to call yourself a “Virginian” or a “Pennsylvanian” than you were an “American.”
–the Daily Stoic
What would you fight so hard for?
Your family of course…. but an idea?
An idea of what the future can be?
In financial planning we fight every day for an idea. That idea is your future.
Retirement, college, a big purchase, emergencies, these are all ideas.
Instead of muskets and bayonets we use investment and insurance strategies to defeat the enemy.
But the hardest thing to fight for is something you can’t touch or see or smell today. It’s much easier to give up.
Thankfully, the Continental Army did not give up. America is the greatest country in the world. We are so lucky they fought in 1776 and people are still willing to fight today.
It’s time we all start fighting harder for the future. Our future.
-Jared
