Happy Independence Day from Natural Element Homes!

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”  – Thomas Paine

Perhaps the original advocate of American Independence, Thomas Paine was a Founding Father and author of Common Sense, an explosive and persuasive pamphlet of about 50 pages. In it, Paine argued against the rule of the British and espoused the merits of egalitarian democracy. Common Sense inflamed the Americans’ longing for freedom and accelerated the conflict that became a revolution. Considered one of the best-selling American works of all time, Common Sense is still printed and sold today, well over 200 years after its inception.

Fast forward to 2018 and Independence Day has arrived, bringing all its festive traditions in tow. We take pause to spend time with family, grill some big burgers and dogs, and let loose obligatory fireworks. But while we’re celebrating with family and friends, let us not forget the sacrifice of the American Revolutionaries. Let us uphold and revere the distinctly American virtues of life, liberty, and equality, afforded to us only by the sacrifice of brave men and women who selflessly laid down their lives at the altar of freedom.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”  – Declaration of Independence, 1776

Thomas Paine’s timeless description of freedom may seem strange to our modern lexicons, and it’s clear that the Founding Fathers viewed the idea of freedom through a lens fogged by the privations of war. All the same, a perennial truth exists in the words of the Founding Fathers and in the declarations of our nation’s most cherished documents; all men are created equal, and each has the right to be free.

At Natural Element Homes, we feel eternally grateful to be Americans, to be free, and to be endowed by our Creator with the unalienable right of freedom.

Happy Independence Day from Natural Element Homes!