I’m trying to wrap my head around July 4th. I really want to get it…the celebration of freedom. I really want to feel it.

I know it. And I live it. Every day I’m free.

And so many others are not. It’s hard for me to get excited about fireworks when I know so many young girls are sold into slavery everyday.

So today I celebrate this:

I celebrate my own experience of exploitation because it has allowed me to have an experiential perspective and guide other girls so they don’t experience the same thing I did.

I celebrate my space, my bed, the food in my fridge because many others don’t have this luxury.

I celebrate nature. I will honor her and pick up trash where I see it left and respect the oxygen she offers me to survive.

I celebrate my deep connections with friends and family who lift me up and support me.

I celebrate my unique perspective and view of the world. A view of compassion, empathy, and awareness.

I celebrate this life. My life.

Today, I will celebrate my own personal freedom. I can’t celebrate freedom at large because this is yet to come.

I am privileged. I have something many people do not and I won’t use one day to pretend something is real when it is not.

Freedom comes when all are free.

And we can all make it possible when we realize our own freedom, become grateful, and help those in need.

The moment you feel chained is the moment you are chained. The moment you feel free is the moment you become free. And feelings come and go, so you can choose to move through the chains.

Celebrate the 4th with your own perspective and gratitude for how YOU are free. Be grateful and also aware. Make todays celebration about your freedom not the country’s freedom. Because our country isn’t free yet.

Freedom will come when we are all free. And it starts with me.

xx, L-