United we stand - strong and indivisible

Ugly pickups in Clark Fork, flag-waving young bicyclists at the children's parade in Sandpoint and plenty of patriotic folks on the west side. Up in Bonners Ferry, you had the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales clomping their way down Main Street. Add in a host of fire engines, horses, big rigs and everything in-between, and it all adds up to an Independence Day that can't be beat.

There are games, music and ice cream leading up to the big show at City Beach in Sandpoint, with a planned 100-volley salute to Bonner County's centennial. There are frog and turtle races in Clark Fork — my personal favorite. Where else can you find a freckle-faced munchkin carefully stomping behind a turtle in an effort to get it to run?

Barbecues are fired up and, with sunny skies baking the area, more folks could be found in the water than out of it no matter where you looked.

And yet, the Fourth of July is so much more than that.

It's a belief that every one of us adds to the whole, that together we can accomplish anything.

It is honoring those who have gone before us, from those who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, creating a framework that allows freedom to flourish and guides us to follow in their footsteps.

Independence Day is a chance to look back, assess where we have been and where we are going. A chance to celebrate, and a chance to reflect. It is a time to unabashedly wallow in patriotism, but acknowledge the role and input off all people and all cultures — knowing that together we are so much stronger and better than we are alone.

Much has been made in recent years about embracing diversity, understanding that our differences are not threatening, but quite to the contrary, can make us stronger as a unit.

We agree with that perspective. But we also heed the wise words of those who caution us against dwelling exclusively on that which makes us different. Taken to extremes, this latter model has led to race riots, alienation and rampant discrimination.

If we're to march forward as the world's greatest nation, we believe we must do so focusing more on what we have in common than the things that make us different.

The late U.S. historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Arthur Schlesinger Jr. extolled the virtues of uniting in our commonalties, rather than focusing on our differences. A prominent lecturer at universities around the country, Schlesinger was often assailed for turning a perceived cold shoulder toward ethnic and religious diversity.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Schlesinger respected where each of us comes from and why we've decided to believe what we believe, but he also understood that too much emphasis on our differences would continue to divide our nation. In other words, the greatest threat to a unified America can only come from within.

So when you're standing along the parade route or even in the grocery store today, certainly pay attention to those things that make every one of us unique. But remember, too, that we're all Americans, and in that glorious togetherness we may remain indivisible.