When I was walking to work this morning some "Explosions in the Sky" started playing on the shuffle function.  The thing about "Explosions in the Sky" is they have a strange way of instantly broadening my mind when I listen to them.  Add that to the fact that I've been drinking a lot of soy milk lately and you probably won't be surprised at the little journey my mind went on here. 

So I was walking along and started looking at the bricks in the streets and the masonry work on the buildings and started thinking about the people who made Philadelphia, a city that played an important role in the establishment of the reality that almost every I know lives every day.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude.  The people who built this city fought for a government they believe in, fought disease, the elements and war and lived very fundamental lives.  If I somehow were to meet them I'm sure we'd have very little in common and may even have conflicting values and beliefs.  They created a government and a country that almost everyone has some sort of problem with, but its very seldom that I'm grateful for the luxury they've provided us, the luxury to be idealistic.  We're far from the perfect country, but I am so thankful to live in a place and time where I can work to set our country's intentions toward equality, charity, environmentalism and all sorts of other things that are good.