This Friday, we will celebrate Independence Day. This is when families get together for picnics, watch fireworks in the evening, and generally enjoy a day off. It is a tradition that goes back a very, very long time, in fact, as long as our national independence itself.

John Adams, our first Vice President of the United States, wrote his wife a letter that was dated July 3, 1776, the day after the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain. It would not be officially recognized until the next day, July 4th, but Adams thought that July 2nd would be the day that would be remembered when he wrote to her this letter,

“The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha (the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of something) in the History of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding Generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

John Adams was right about the celebration part, but not the sustaining of the meaning. This same thought came to me about Patriot Day, the national day of remembrance observed each year on September 11th to honor the memory of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Those of us who were adults at the time remembered how terrifying it was to see the United States of America attacked on our very own soil.

But how time flies. Today, the United States has a population of 341 million, of which 153 million of them (about 45 percent) were ten years or younger or not even born yet on that day 24 years ago. To them, it is just another holiday. Will Patriot Day melt into the name “9/11” like Independence Day has become the “Fourth of July”?

I did get some hope when I met a Penn Tech freshman student from the Philadelphia area a few years ago who had been given a motorcycle by his parents to help him get around school. He was just getting used to it when he heard about a motorcycle ride on September 11th that started at the Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Company, very close to where he lived. What he did not know was when it started and thus arrived eight hours early. I was helping lining up the motorcycles, and told him I would watch his bike for him rather than having to come back later. He liked the idea of being right up front of the ride with several thousand motorcycles behind him.

When the ride ended, the young man deeply appreciated that he was in the front and found the entire experience of the ride exhilarating. Given his age, I was curious about what he knew about the tragedy we were commemorating. He admitted that he was just a toddler when it happened, but his parents raised him to recognize that Americans should never take freedom for granted.

And that’s the key right there. President Ronald Reagan understood this very well. He often spoke about the responsibility we have to future generations, emphasizing freedom, national character, and the preservation of American values. He made one quote that has never got old, given in a speech in 1964 that is still fresh sixty years since then — “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

So, with all that in mind, take a minute on Friday and tell your children or grandchildren why this day is known as Independence Day for a reason. And tell them to tell their children as well. It is not just a holiday — it is our future history.