Horoscope Poem written to celebrate the birth of the U.S.A.
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Your ability to grow past problems and evolve to a new level emerges. A di�cult situation involving a misunderstanding finally will be ironed out. Taurus (April 20-May 20)
You might have so much to do that you’ll feel as if you’re saddled with the world’s responsibilities. You could be in a strange position where you feel trapped. Gemini (May 21-June 20)
You might want to move forward and let go of a problem. Whether you take a spin in your car or on your bicycle makes no di�erence; the change of scenery will be just what the doctor ordered. Cancer (June 21-July 22)
You might want to slow down some. Once you start moving, you lose your ability to relate with ease. Spend some quality time with a special person in your life. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
You love celebrations, and today you are likely to go to a party rather than be the host of one. You could be surprised by a loved one’s unexpected actions. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Get into a fun sport with a friend or two. You don’t need to keep all your plans in line with the holiday. Go o� and do whatever makes you happy. Someone you meet today might not be exactly who he or she appears. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Suddenly the true you emerges, and others will get a glimpse of your more spirited side. Open up to new possibilities. If you are attached, curb any flirting, as it likely will end in hurt feelings. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Decide to host the July Fourth barbecue this year, and invite all your friends over. Enjoy the moment and maximize what is happening around you. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Understand what is happening. Dive right in and enjoy yourself. Several conversations could be fun and enlightening. Don’t forget to call certain family members and friends before the festivities begin. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
You’ll make a di�erence where you never thought it would be possible. A loved one responds to you di�erently from how he or she has in a while. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
You might be more in tune with the mood and spirit of the day than many people are. Others will be only too happy to participate in the celebrations. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Don’t push yourself. Just because everyone else is full of energy does not mean you need to be. What is stopping you from saying “no” to an invitation and getting some R and R?
Jacqueline Bigar is at www.jacquelinebigar.com.
Dear Readers: Happy Fourth of July! Here’s one of our favorite pieces, originally written in 1955 as a public relations advertisement for the Norfolk and Western Railway company magazine and updated in 1976:
“I Am the Nation” by Otto Whittaker
I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I o�ered freedom to the oppressed. I am the nation.
I am 250 million living souls — and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me. I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Je�erson and Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett. I am Lee and Grant and Abe Lincoln.
I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. I left my heroic dead in Flanders Field, on the rock of Corregidor, on the bleak slopes of Korea and in the steaming jungle of Vietnam.
I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coalfields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor and the Merrimac.
I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific — my arms reach out to embrace Alaska and Hawaii. I am more than five million farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet villages — and cities that never sleep.
You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his breadloaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas and hear the strains of “Auld Lang Syne” as the calendar turns.
I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Tom Edison, Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. I am Horace Greeley, Will Rogers and the Wright Brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Jonas Salk and Martin Luther King Jr.
I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman and Thomas Paine.
Yes, I am the nation and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days.
May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.