Fellow Americans, let your pride burst forth on the Fourth

This Saturday, in celebration of the 233rd anniversary of our independence, America will break out the sparklers and the illegal bottle rockets, fire up the grill, and take a day to sit back and smell the gunpowder.
We approach this anniversary as a country facing a multitude of issues, both within our borders and across the globe. In this tumultuous time, it is easy to set aside patriotism in favor of cynicism. My own generation especially has witnessed the faults of our government and the failings of our society. We have felt the heat of the fevered hatred directed toward our country from foreign nations, and we have heard the reproaches that come even from our allies.
More than ever, in the midst of this turning point of American history, it is imperative not only to remember the qualities that have made a nation extraordinary, but also to reignite the will to work as one people to return our country to the brilliance of which it is capable.
A few summers ago, I went on a student trip to England, Ireland, and Wales. Part of the program was a visit to the House of Parliament in England, where we attended a brief lecture with a Parliament member. Most of his speech was lost to an explanation of the inner workings of Parliament, but he devoted some time to a topic that seemed of vital importance to him: the way that we, as young Americans, perceive our country.    
He was strangely awed by the United States, in a way that many Europeans are not, and urged us to take pride in who we are. He told us to set aside the belligerence that is often directed toward our country, and to remember, against all else, that we are citizens of a great nation, one that has charged ahead as the leader of the world.
Something in his words caught me. Some quality of the sincerity in his voice, his heartfelt admiration tapped into my patriotic spirit; I have never been more proud to be a member of the nation about which he spoke so reverently.
I urge you, on this Fourth of July, to recall what has made this country great. We are yet a young nation, but we are a nation that has accomplished so much in our brief history. We are a flawed country, but not beyond recovery. Because within this country reside the people who lift up our nation, the remarkable minds and the fierce hearts that will overcome all adversity. 
We are Americans. Let’s fix this, so we can be proud of it.