We are celebrating Independence Day yet we have come under siege of a new ruler, namely social media. Certainly, social media is an important tool created for the betterment of humanity when it is implemented for the right reasons and purposes.

Having misconstrued the use of social media, we then are no longer independent thinkers, doers and creators, for we are easily influenced by the false hype and sheer narcissism it evokes in people. In celebrating Independence Day, we must firstly proclaim our independence from the shackles of social media which deter us from embracing the sanctity of family and the freedom we gain from God’s wondrous gift of nature.

Celebrating the Fourth of July is a call for a virtuous life. Let us honor the freedom-loving heroes of the American Revolutionary War who paid the ultimate price and the forefathers of this great nation who wrote the Declaration of Independence in order that you and I may live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Happy Independence Day!

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian

Primate