Origin stories matter. And this is ours.
On September 17, 1787 a new nation was born. But this wasn't about freedom, it was about money. There was an inter-gang dispute, and the old guard had overplayed their hand. They were too greedy and too far away. The new guard seized the opportunity and promised the spoils of victory to their friends.
As with any scam, they needed gullible believers and found plenty. They cloaked their power grab in flowery language while practicing human slavery and desecration of the land and its previous inhabitants. The birth of America wasn't so much about what changed, but what stayed the same - subjugation of the Spirit and true humanity. The only thing that changed was the masters.
This is our origin story. Or is it? The stories we tell matter, but the question is, who is the storyteller? Are you living someone else's story, or telling your own?
The truth is that Our story began long before 1787, and it isn't over yet. America is just a phase in the story of Humanity. In Nature, everything arises and passes away. America began rising 250 years ago, and its passing was written into its birth. What remains to be written is what passes with it. Will you die, or be reborn? Are our skyscrapers monuments to our greatness, or gravestones foretelling the passing of the biggest mistake we could ever make? Leaving our true home for the promise of something better, when we already had everything we needed. Not appreciating what was given to us so much that we lost everything.
But this story isn't over. Every moment is a time to die and be reborn. It's recognizing the death and rebirth that will save us. Our old behavior patterns can die and be replaced with something better. We can see lies and stop believing them. We can remember the truth and start living in harmony with our true selves again. Everything is changeable, nothing is written in stone. Swords can become ploughshares, and the fall of humanity can become the most beautiful redemption story ever written.
Is it a coincidence I share a birthday with the start of our constitutional republic? Maybe. But life is about revisiting your origin story time and time again, until you learn how to tell it the right way. It doesn't have to have a sad ending. Something new can be born and flourish. This is the story I had to remember, and I'm telling it now to myself and the whole world.
