Happy 4th of July!
As the only Summer holiday (Labor Day is in September, which feels like Autumn) and the holiday of American independence, a heavy load weighs upon the 4th, but it’s Summer, so we have the whole great outdoors to spread out our picnic blankets and umbrellas and enjoy all this.
“America” contains an endless variety of contrasts and contradictions, but the 4th is a joy and a celebration. Not a day passes without somber thoughts about the state of the nation, the world, and the planet, and our shortcomings as individuals, as a nation, as world citizens, but we would be amiss not to take some time to focus on the positive.
This is the land of Alaska and Hawaii, polar bears and palm trees, deserts and rain forests, cowboys and Indians.
Immigrants settled in the Appalachians, and Cajun country, and were forcibly brought in chains from Africa. In these lands, these people play what The Blasters sang about: blues, folk, jazz, country, R & B, rockabilly, soul, rock ‘n roll, rap, house, hip hop: American music.
Under one flag: Wall Street and Woodstock, Mormons, Hippies, Earth First!, the Tea Party, Al Capone and John Brown, Walt Whitman and Alice Walker, Sojourner Truth and Robert Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Chief Joseph, Humphrey Bogart and Handsome Dick Manitoba, Ansel Adams and the A-Bomb, Aretha Franklin and Frank Zappa, Porter Wagoner and Pee Wee Herman, Dr. Spock and Dr. Seuss, Prohibition and legal marijuana, Gram Parsons and graham crackers, Amazon and meth labs, Cap’n Crunch, the Captain & Tennile, football, baseball, and basketball.
America is a work in progress.
How do we finetune the economy so the poor don’t always have to get poorer and poorer?
How do we protect ourselves at home, and how do we use our wealth, military, and influence for the betterment of not just ourselves, but the world as a whole?
How do we know who our true friends are?
How do we take care of our old folk without slighting our youth of the necessary educational, health, and financial resources?
How do we improve our national infrastructure and expand and maintain our wildlife and wilderness?
How do we welcome the masses who brave every threat and danger to have the same opportunities we have?
As an American, I believe this nation believes in the individual and brings out (OK, sometimes the worst) the best in people, so I’ll wave the flag and shoot off fireworks with a beer in one hand and a hamburger in the other, thankful that I’m an American!