Two hundred forty-eight years ago, America declared its independence from Great Britain.

Could the Founding Fathers have ever envisioned what they were creating? Probably not. Too much has changed since then—from the understanding that people should not be judged by the color of their skin, their ethnicity, or their gender. . . to technological advances even our grandparents could not have imagined.

But what has stayed the same for nearly two and a half centuries is this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

How we interpret these goals remains our challenge. We have not yet reached the state they envisioned back then. With great independence comes great responsibility. The world is watching. Will we rise to the occasion?