Nothing unites the nation like the Fourth of July. Even Christmas has its detractors, but it’s hard to find anyone in this country who doesn’t appreciate the need for celebrating yet another United States birthday.

Unity, in such short supply across this country most days, is applauded for at least one day a year as Americans contemplate the founding of a great nation, the sacrifices made to protect said nation and feel lucky they are a part of it all.

Historical paeans to founding fathers Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Hamilton — to name but a few — are often lost in the more exciting prospects of setting off firecrackers, flopping steaks on a grill and joining in with family and friends.

That’s fine, but it should never cease to amaze us that the U.S.A. happened at all, nurtured in its infancy and encouraged through difficult growing pains by wise and courageous leadership.

And in spite of its obvious faults, it still exists. And not only exists, but (dare we say) shines as the foremost reservoir of freedom and liberty around the world. This nation isn’t the only democracy in the world today, of course, but it remains the indispensible nation — unique in that the U.S. alone possesses the power and prestige required to move the world toward human values we have embraced since our beginnings.

Americans haven’t always led with those values, to be sure. But we remain a nation founded on principles of fairness, decency and inclusiveness on a scale never heretofore attempted previously.

The principles that underpin America were mere ideas — pipe dreams — at the very beginning. Many thoughtful people believed that real democracy could succeed only in small homogenous societies, and that the American continent was too large, too invested in self-interested factions, to continue for but a few years. More than 230 years later, after one civil war and ruinous prospects too numerous to count, we continue as one people.

Divided? Yes, somewhat. But not divided as in a nation without purpose. We still have a message to share with the world.

As we celebrate another Fourth of July with fireworks and parades, let us pause for a moment to consider the unity that this national holiday embraces. We should remind ourselves that though there are many difficult issues to ponder — wars, inflation, energy sources, health care, etc., etc. — we began as a nation of optimists and should continue thus. We are at our problem-solving best when we have our confidence, and it will always be so.

Do you think Washington was an optimist at Valley Forge? Oh yeah.