As we celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States this year, the Gregory Times-Advocate is featuring a column periodically to recount key events and people that led to our country’s independence.

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When Dale Hanna brought the first dog home in 2001, starting a rescue wasn’t on his or Marie Palmer’s radar. He was an electrician working on the SWA (Sicangu Wicoti Awayankapi Corporation, the primary tribal housing authority and community development entity for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe) at the time. He rescued a puppy from two dogs who were going to eat him. He named the pup Tug because one dog had him by the hip and the other by the neck, and they were pulling him between them.

We learn emotion long before we ever speak a word. As children, we watch how the adults around us express feelings, how they handle stress, how they repair conflict, and how they reach for comfort or don’t. We most commonly absorb the emotional habits of the people that raise us. These early experiences shape our developing attachment patterns and become the emotional “language” we carry into adulthood. We don’t choose these patterns; we inherit them through observation, repetition, and survival.

Service is woven into the fabric of South Dakota, carried forward by veterans, families, and communities who continue to support one another every day. In August, we are reminded that honoring service is not limited to the past; it is an ongoing commitment we share across generations.

The human race has never been more connected to one another. We can reach family, friends and strangers across the world in mere seconds. Despite this alleged connectedness, loneliness is everywhere. The U.S. Surgeon General referred to loneliness as an epidemic that is literally killing us, stating that lacking social connection can increase the risk for premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. We all know smoking is dangerous, so why do we ignore the danger of loneliness? Ignoring it won't make it go away.