Activists are united by their passion for the principles they espouse. They are able to break out of the stupor that prevents many of us from seeing beyond the status quo, beyond our comfort zone.

In 1776 the work of activists brought about a revolution, the successful conclusion of which we still celebrate today, although amid the fireworks, parades, and ice cream it is hard to remember that is what the Fourth of July is all about.

In a letter he sent in 1826, declining an invitation to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ... For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”