Here’s hoping that, for at least a day, all of us can put aside our differences and revel in pride about this land, its people and its enduring greatness.

Hateful rhetoric has been increasingly hurtful and the tone deafening as political wars rage over who’s to blame for what. A few real statesmen seek to craft solutions to problems long overdue for attention. Such problems are many, ranging from health care and the steady poisoning of our environment to the foolishness of remaining prisoners of fossil fuels, especially those from far-off lands.

But whatever the issue, in the end, Americans would do well to show more respect to one another. We are not the enemy. We just have differences of opinion. That doesn’t make one anymore patriotic than another.

For a day, we ought to act like fellow citizens and revel in the miracles accomplished by our Founding Fathers who, likewise, had great differences.

Yet, working together, compromising here and there, listening instead of rattling, they forged a nation of liberty and laws. They crafted a constitution and a bill of rights, feats separating us from all other nations.

While the problems facing us are many, there’s much to celebrate. A few years ago, for instance, soldiers from nearby Fort Hood seemed caught up in unending cycles of deployments to Iraq.

However, a few days ago we began pulling troops out of major Iraqi cities as part of a plan initially engineered by President Bush to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis. That’s worthy of celebration this Fourth.

Recent incidents on the homefront remind us that the specters of racism and anti-semitism still infect our culture. And yet, whether you agree with Barack Obama or seek his ouster in 2012, the United States passed a milestone in his election, with more people proving they’ve gotten past race as a reason not to hire somebody.

So have a hot dog, settle in for some fireworks and, for a few days, celebrate our shared heritage, our accomplishments and, we hope and pray, our belief in one another.