I’m fortunate and proud to be a citizen of the United States of America, but I’m concerned about our collective reluctance to acknowledge and address the fact that we as a nation:

1. Have more government debt than any other country in the world. China and Japan hold nearly 34% of the total debt we owe. If you were wondering who our landlord was…well, I just named them.

2. Are ranked below virtually every other wealthy country and many developing countries educationally, despite our enormous expenditures on public education. There are many metrics, but as an example we were recently surpassed by Vietnam in math skills.

3. Have the most expensive health care in the world and yet we lag behind most other similarly wealthy countries on most of the process and outcome metrics. What’s worse is our rate of improvement is lower, too, so the gap is widening.

I’m not complaining, I’m not judging, I’m not condemning, and I’m not blaming.

I’m calling to action.

Only the greatest can rightly claim to be the greatest. Today is a day where my fellow Americans and those around them may be thinking, shouting, and posting: “We’re #1!” I believe that if we are going to claim to be #1, we had better be ready to back it up. Untrue claims are hypocrisy, even if made in ignorance.

If you acknowledge what I’m carrying on about and want to do something about it, where do you start?

For starters, you can manage your personal affairs more thriftily and conscientiously. You need to educate yourself about personal physical, mental and fiscal health. You have to take massive personal action. You have to help your fellows as if your life and our livelihood depended upon it…because they do.

Secondly, you can do more civically. Look for ways to engage with and serve into your local community. Get to know its needs, instead of narrowly focusing on yours. Assist others to their fulfillment, first and foremost. Your fulfillment will follow.

Our collective independence is built upon your individual independence. Your individual independence is the product of your having taken responsibility for independent thinking, for your physical heath, and for embracing the spirit of service in all that you do.

We are the founding fathers of our collective future. Happy Independence Day!