The Grapevine: Getting Ready for a Special Fourth of July and Reminding All to be Careful with the Weather
By Rosalyn Queen on January 22, 2026 from The Grapevine
If you were to pick up a document and it started with the sentence, “when in the course of human events, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mentally pledge to each other, our lives are fortunes and our favored honor.”
Now, do you know what this sentence is the beginning of? It is the first sentence in the Declaration of Independence, which was written 250 years ago, declaring the independence of the United States of America. This document, which is one page, is written in cursive and signed by 50 delegates.
The document ends in this beautiful sentence which we all should take time to read.
“… when in the course of human events, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives are fortunes and our favored honor.”
The heading of this document is, “The unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America.” One of the first things that I wanted to point out to my readers is that this document is completely written in cursive and could not be read by most of our children today. This might give us thought to encourage our education system to ramp up teaching cursive to our students.
Boston was the location of those individuals who gathered to sign the declaration.
July 4, 2026, will be the 250th birthday of the United States of America. You will be seeing the word “Semiquincentennial” when a lot of articles will be referring to this celebration. Semiquincentennial means 250.
For most of the planned activities, they will be reflecting on our nation’s past and honoring those contributions made by all Americans and the progress we can make for all future Americans.
Locally I have done some research with our young people, and I find that many of them think that the Fourth of July is the beginning of summer and a time to get ready to go to the beach or on vacation. Certainly, this is true, but the Fourth of July means much more than that. I hope that over the next couple of months we can start a few projects that will instill a better understanding in our young people of what happened on the Fourth of July.
I would like to see more respect for our flag. I would like to see everyone learning the words to the National Anthem and I would also like to see placing your hand over your heart and saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
We are the greatest country on earth, and I want our youth to grow up believing this and supporting our country. A good future depends on what our youth does for our democracy.
Now is the time to start planning some projects to observe our 250th birthday. They don’t have to be major projects but something that will just stir an interest in our young people and renew the interest in our older adults. Please get involved.
I guess winter has set in and the best thing that we can do especially us older adults is Stay home keep warm and keep healthy. My idea is that this cold weather will kill all the germs and we will have a healthier summer. I. don’t know where I got this information, it is just something I believe and I truly hope it happens for all of us,
Take care, enjoy a stay-in project like reading a book, or crocheting, or working a crossword puzzle and until next week “now you have heard it through the Grapevine.”
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