During those fateful summer days of 1776, delegates to the second Continental Congress at Philadelphia bravely asserted their intentions by passing, on July 2, a “resolution of independence.” Two days later, those delegates, as a group, voted in session to approve the document which recorded in specific detail the reasons for separating from the British crown.

Beginning that day and continuing through early August, each individual delegate would, in turn, have to make the most personal decision: “Does one dare … pick up pen, dip it in their personal well of courage, and imprint their signature on the document?”

Because our founders did, freedom rang. Because our forefathers were willing to risk everything to be free from the yoke of heavy-handed government. Because our founders did, their lives, liberty, property and their sacred honor would be at stake. Because our forefathers were willing to dare, we have the Declaration of Independence.

Because our founders had faith in each other, we have “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

But now, the question is, what’s left of individual freedoms? That is for each of us to thoughtfully consider. But as we do, I am thinking of what I have previously stated in this space: “America’s birth stands as the singular moment of change in man’s relation to man and the primacy of individual self-government.”

And, “the founders declaration that ‘all men are created equal,’ that every man is ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,’ that these unalienable rights include, but are not limited to, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’ and the specification that whenever ‘governments are instituted among men’ that the singular measure of legitimacy can only be ‘to secure these rights is profound and clear.’”

The excerpts from the Declaration of Independence are profound words indeed.

They have echoed round the world. Those words describe an idea that has become an ideal for freedom-loving people everywhere. Those words are remembered by individuals willing to seek freedom, too soon forgotten by those who take it for granted.

The holiday gatherings are always fun, the food is always tasty, the fireworks are always exciting. But, maybe, just maybe, we don’t need all that.

Maybe some small private act of personal commitment is what is really needed to celebrate individual liberty.

After all, the 56 founders who dared sign the Declaration of Independence understood personal commitment. Benjamin Franklin stated it well: “We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

One can hope or pray that, like Franklin and our other founders, today’s citizens understand what may lie ahead for all of us during these “following days.”

That begs the question, “How many Americans would dare sign the Declaration of Independence during these ‘following days’ of July and August, 235 years later?”

Now you can sign it at www.CFC.us.

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications and founder of Citizens for Change. A professional member of the National Speakers Association, he is available pro bono for charitable fundraisers and public forums and can be reached via email at RichOlivastro@gmail.com or by phone at 1-877-RichSpeaks.