I am celebrating July 4 on the Toms River in New Jersey. I am still working on Superstorm Sandy claims and litigating lawsuits in New York and New Jersey. This is a big day.

I am also a New York Yankee baseball fan. I pretended to be like Mickey Mantle as a boy—he was my hero. Today marks the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech. Take a second to reflect on how Major League Baseball remembers him and the message of gratefulness he sends. We should always think about what we are grateful for if we want to be happy:

//www.youtube.com/embed/3oW1RuGqw7g

Fireworks are part of our celebration of being Americans. I took my niece, Kristin Floyd, to see the Katy Perry concert in Tampa on Monday. Here is another great message from a modern American in a little different context wishing you a Happy Fourth of July:

//www.youtube.com/embed/QGJuMBdaqIw?rel=0

Positive Thought for the Day:

[F]or the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement. . . .

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known…? To have spent six years with that wonderful…fellow? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today…? Sure, I’m lucky. . . .

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. . . .

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.

   –Lou Gehrig

We are fortunate to live in a country with so many inspirational leaders and those that provide meaning. Freedom and liberty allow for these to blossom and inspire.