Dis Is Why We Celebrates De Foth of July!
Dis Is Why We Celebrates De Foth of July! - © Kent Fletcher
July 4, 2007
I don't think I'll ever forget the subject line of this short reminisce. I was working on the campus of the University of Mississippi, with the grounds crew, just making some bucks for groceries while passing time until the summer school session began in 1981. The fellow who spoke those words was a local black man, a very young man, who I seriously doubt even had a high school diploma. And he firmly believed in what he said, that he believed George Washington had freed the slaves and that was the reason for the Fourth of July celebrations. Sad, very sad, but for some folks whose histories are so jumbled, well, at least he was celebrating something on the official birthdate of these United States.
Yesterday, I was in dreamland myself, thinking (always thinking of past dates and events) about the various celebrations of the Fourth of July in my lifetime, some 60 years. Some were very eventful, some rather drab, most just another day in my life. I remember my ex had a friend who was teaching in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when we were living in Colorado. Ellen was her name, and she invited us to Santa Fe to partake in the 200th year celebration of this great nation. 1976. Two centuries of democracy, sometimes shaky, sometimes firm, but always there, here. Not too bad for a system of government that so many have iterated can never last, can never survive, will eventually implode. I wonder how close we the people are to that day of implosion. It's scary, ain't it?
So we ankled off to Santa Fe for the weekend, for the celebration, for the drinking and strolling around the center and off-shooting streets of that quaint city's Plaza. It was here I was introduced to green chili, but I was not really fond of it, then. Now I am, and it's so hard to find in Texas. But the revelry in Santa Fe was unique, with Anglos, Hispanics, Indians, with parades on the Plaza, with banners held high, with a unison that was expected and symbolic of the unity of our diversified cultures. I've not been back to Santa Fe for the Fourth of July celebrations, and I wonder what it's like now.
I also thought about the time I was stationed at the Pentagon and the celebrations of the Fourth of July there. The celebrations on the National Mall with all manner of people from all over the United States, even all over the world, regaling in the so-far-successful story of these United States of America, all culminating in a wild and amazing fireworks display that lasted around an hour or so, beginning at 9 p.m. I remember being close to ground zero for the display, laying down on the ground, and only needing to keep my eyes open for the sights of the explosions occurring high above me, with the colors of the explosions - green, white, red, blue - and not worrying too much about my hearing at the time. The end of the display was about 15 minutes, maybe more, of nothing but the explosions and resounding echoes off brick, concrete, and steel throughout the DC area, about as close to the sounds of war I've ever heard. I wonder as I type this if the explosions at the Pentagon on 9/11/01 sounded anywhere near as loud.
All that is history, now, but what a wonderful time it was. The United States was still enduring the Cold War, and while I can't remember specifically, I'm sure the US was engaged in skirmishes around the world, attempting to further the cause of democracy in a mostly-undemocratic world. But the US citizens were free to do nearly anything they wanted on the Fourth of July, to have picnics, to go to the zoos, to gather in small communities to hear bands playing patriotic songs, to go to the lake for the day, to ski and swim, or simply to stay at home. The activities of the day were as varied as the people themselves, and for the most part, were free of worry about some fool or fools tossing a bomb into a crowd out of sympathy for the "oppressed" in the world. Lord, have times changed.
In just the past week, the ugliness of global war on terror reared its ugly head once again, in the "free" world. Eight folks of Islamic persuasion and empathy and sympathy created havoc in Great Britain, attempting car bombings on the streets, attempting to drive a Jeep through airport doors with bombs onboard, attempting to bring terror and fear to that great land. And these eight folks are educated human beings, five or six of them doctors or at least medical professionals. Did they succeed in their plight? Did they cause concern for safety? Undoubtedly they did, but they were all apprehended within a very short length of time, and for the most part their pursuits were squelched from the outset.
While I fear for the lives of all of us, for the Brits, the Spaniards, the Germans, for all in the European Union, I am most happy, glad those same attempted attacks did not take place in these United States. In squelching the attacks, had they happened within our borders, I fear there would have been political ramifications galore to yet divide the citizens more and more. I'm so tired of the politicians I could just scream. However, that is the way it is in these United States.
But today, July 4, 2007, is a day like no other day in the history of the greatest nation in the world. Today is the celebration of the birth of the greatest nation in the world, number 231. That number, my friends, is unequivocal in the histories of any nation in the world. The United States is the leader of the pack when it comes to individual freedoms in the world and each and every one of us should rejoice in that fact alone. We are free to do as we please, at least within the context of the laws and rules and regulations that we and our forefathers and foremothers have made for ourselves. The citizens of the United States are at the forefront of most every conceivable idea, invention, medical breakthrough, et al, in the world today. Foreigners of every ideation come to the people of the United States for help and we give it, and then we get stabbed in the back for our generosity. Ah, it's just like a Mobius strip, forever twisting and turning, always coming around and around, no beginning, no end.
Hey, I'm so glad I am a citizen of the United States. There is no place better to live, even with all the imperfections we have put upon ourselves. I cannot imagine living, working, dying anywhere else in the world.
This is why I celebrate the Fourth of July. This is why I fly the flag of the United States. How about you?
July 4, 2007
I don't think I'll ever forget the subject line of this short reminisce. I was working on the campus of the University of Mississippi, with the grounds crew, just making some bucks for groceries while passing time until the summer school session began in 1981. The fellow who spoke those words was a local black man, a very young man, who I seriously doubt even had a high school diploma. And he firmly believed in what he said, that he believed George Washington had freed the slaves and that was the reason for the Fourth of July celebrations. Sad, very sad, but for some folks whose histories are so jumbled, well, at least he was celebrating something on the official birthdate of these United States.
Yesterday, I was in dreamland myself, thinking (always thinking of past dates and events) about the various celebrations of the Fourth of July in my lifetime, some 60 years. Some were very eventful, some rather drab, most just another day in my life. I remember my ex had a friend who was teaching in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when we were living in Colorado. Ellen was her name, and she invited us to Santa Fe to partake in the 200th year celebration of this great nation. 1976. Two centuries of democracy, sometimes shaky, sometimes firm, but always there, here. Not too bad for a system of government that so many have iterated can never last, can never survive, will eventually implode. I wonder how close we the people are to that day of implosion. It's scary, ain't it?
So we ankled off to Santa Fe for the weekend, for the celebration, for the drinking and strolling around the center and off-shooting streets of that quaint city's Plaza. It was here I was introduced to green chili, but I was not really fond of it, then. Now I am, and it's so hard to find in Texas. But the revelry in Santa Fe was unique, with Anglos, Hispanics, Indians, with parades on the Plaza, with banners held high, with a unison that was expected and symbolic of the unity of our diversified cultures. I've not been back to Santa Fe for the Fourth of July celebrations, and I wonder what it's like now.
I also thought about the time I was stationed at the Pentagon and the celebrations of the Fourth of July there. The celebrations on the National Mall with all manner of people from all over the United States, even all over the world, regaling in the so-far-successful story of these United States of America, all culminating in a wild and amazing fireworks display that lasted around an hour or so, beginning at 9 p.m. I remember being close to ground zero for the display, laying down on the ground, and only needing to keep my eyes open for the sights of the explosions occurring high above me, with the colors of the explosions - green, white, red, blue - and not worrying too much about my hearing at the time. The end of the display was about 15 minutes, maybe more, of nothing but the explosions and resounding echoes off brick, concrete, and steel throughout the DC area, about as close to the sounds of war I've ever heard. I wonder as I type this if the explosions at the Pentagon on 9/11/01 sounded anywhere near as loud.
All that is history, now, but what a wonderful time it was. The United States was still enduring the Cold War, and while I can't remember specifically, I'm sure the US was engaged in skirmishes around the world, attempting to further the cause of democracy in a mostly-undemocratic world. But the US citizens were free to do nearly anything they wanted on the Fourth of July, to have picnics, to go to the zoos, to gather in small communities to hear bands playing patriotic songs, to go to the lake for the day, to ski and swim, or simply to stay at home. The activities of the day were as varied as the people themselves, and for the most part, were free of worry about some fool or fools tossing a bomb into a crowd out of sympathy for the "oppressed" in the world. Lord, have times changed.
In just the past week, the ugliness of global war on terror reared its ugly head once again, in the "free" world. Eight folks of Islamic persuasion and empathy and sympathy created havoc in Great Britain, attempting car bombings on the streets, attempting to drive a Jeep through airport doors with bombs onboard, attempting to bring terror and fear to that great land. And these eight folks are educated human beings, five or six of them doctors or at least medical professionals. Did they succeed in their plight? Did they cause concern for safety? Undoubtedly they did, but they were all apprehended within a very short length of time, and for the most part their pursuits were squelched from the outset.
While I fear for the lives of all of us, for the Brits, the Spaniards, the Germans, for all in the European Union, I am most happy, glad those same attempted attacks did not take place in these United States. In squelching the attacks, had they happened within our borders, I fear there would have been political ramifications galore to yet divide the citizens more and more. I'm so tired of the politicians I could just scream. However, that is the way it is in these United States.
But today, July 4, 2007, is a day like no other day in the history of the greatest nation in the world. Today is the celebration of the birth of the greatest nation in the world, number 231. That number, my friends, is unequivocal in the histories of any nation in the world. The United States is the leader of the pack when it comes to individual freedoms in the world and each and every one of us should rejoice in that fact alone. We are free to do as we please, at least within the context of the laws and rules and regulations that we and our forefathers and foremothers have made for ourselves. The citizens of the United States are at the forefront of most every conceivable idea, invention, medical breakthrough, et al, in the world today. Foreigners of every ideation come to the people of the United States for help and we give it, and then we get stabbed in the back for our generosity. Ah, it's just like a Mobius strip, forever twisting and turning, always coming around and around, no beginning, no end.
Hey, I'm so glad I am a citizen of the United States. There is no place better to live, even with all the imperfections we have put upon ourselves. I cannot imagine living, working, dying anywhere else in the world.
This is why I celebrate the Fourth of July. This is why I fly the flag of the United States. How about you?
posted by Fletch @ 9:59 AM
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