What July 4th Means for Adoptees

An article by Carl Golden in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

In the small town in Pennsylvania where I grew up, the Fourth of July featured a parade in the morning, fireworks at night, and a patriotic speech or two in between, usually by a member of a veterans group or a town official...

My two older children grew up observing the Fourth and learning pretty much the same lessons from their history teachers that I did. They, as I, understand that the freedom we all enjoy should be celebrated on this holiday, even though many people take it for granted. Given the pace of today's living, few people think on a regular basis about how freedom began in the United States.

Now I am also the father of two children who were adopted and brought here from China. There, they had been abandoned by parents who, for whatever reason, were unable to care for them.

July Fourth is not a part of their heritage, as it is with American-born kids. They enjoy the same freedoms as their native-born playmates, but at times I think what their lives would be like had they not been chosen for my wife and me to bring here.

Full story.