July Message
Any mention of July to me always conjures up one day in the month in particular: the 4th of July, with its fireworks celebrating America’s Independence Day. Even if I have not lived in the US for close to twenty years and in fact now make my home in England, the country from which the fledgling US Congress in 1776 sought separation at any cost, this particular commemorative date has never lost its significance for me. American Independence was only won after great sacrifice. Not only the US and England paid a hefty price, but France and Spain too paid handsomely. The toll in lives lost is thought to have been proportionally greater than the number lost in the Civil War.