Today is a national holiday here in America, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and becoming an independent country, though declaring ourselves so didn’t make it true. There would be several more years of fighting before England gave up its rights to the colony that would become the United States of America. If we’d lost the war then every man who signed the Declaration would have likely been hung. So, while you’re grilling meat and veggies, consuming potato salad, cole slaw, chips, and other traditional goodies, think about what we’re really celebrating. This is the date that marks the birth of our nation. In the history of the world America is a very young country, we’re a teenager. If the world were different we’d be in the Imperial expansion stage and probably have colonies of our own now, but by the time America got to that point the world had changed too much. Can you imagine what the other world powers would do if we started conquering and keeping other countries? Before anyone says, well America is conquering other countries. No, we aren’t.
Our men and women are serving their country on a lot of foreign land, but we have not kept anything we’ve fought and died for in the last two centuries. Unlike France, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany when their countries were the same age that we are now, America has kept nothing. Thousands of American lives lost in wars, peacekeeping actions, and just when other people call our military in for aid. Everyone that complains that America is tyrannical and aggressive don’t know their world history. This teenage country has been better behaved and more peaceful towards other countries than any “superpower” or world leader that I’m aware of, and that includes, Russia/The Soviet Union.
If you think the above paragraph sounds like I regret that my country hasn’t kept some of the soil we’ve fought and died on, you’re right. If we pay with blood and death for a piece of land, we should get to keep it, that’s the way countries and empires work, but America came of age in a world that no longer believes in empires. Would it have been a good idea for our country to keep more of what we’ve bled and died for, probably not, but I am beyond tired of other countries accusing us of aggressive behavior when we seem to have behaved ourselves better than they have in their pasts. But America was created on the principal of freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to protest, freedom to bitch, and heaven knows Americans are good at that last part. It’s almost a national characteristic to complain about government, politics, social issues, you name it. Today there are groups that are going to express that Freedom of Speech by burning the American flag, because they say it is a sign of tyranny, abuse, and aggression. I do not agree with this, but I am an American which means I will fight for their right to say what they believe, because that’s what Freedom of Speech means. They are free to burn our flag, as much as I hate it, and I am free to put up a flag pole in front of my home and fly that same flag proudly.
Is America perfect? No, but then name me a country that is, and if you’re honest you won’t be able to, because nothing and nowhere is perfect, but I live in a country where people can burn the national flag and not be arrested, or shot, or disappeared. Thats more rare than you think in today’s world, but we, Americans, forget how good we have it in this country. Again, not perfect, and if they gave me the magic baton tomorrow I wouldn’t know how to fix the economy, but I know I’d concentrate on bringing jobs and manufacturing back to America. What I’m hearing across the country is that Americans need jobs that pay enough to support a family. All the other issues maybe important, but I believe in the end they are smoke and mirrors by the politicians on all sides of the aisle to divide America, when what is needed is to bring us together. We live in a country where we can disagree vehemently with each other, and that’s okay, that is a gift. This year has divided our country along so many lines, over so many issues, to the point where I’m against any issue that is divisive, and am trying to find things that are inclusive, because we are all more alike than we are different. The same hopes and fears are in most hearts. We hold our children’s hands, we dry their tears, we try to explain that the world is not a fair place, but you can still try to be a fair person. We try to teach our children to be kind in a world that is often unkind. Should we teach them harsher things? Some people seem to be doing just that, and I don’t know what to say in the face of such hate. Except perhaps this – hate is not the opposite of love, disinterest is, anyone that’s gone through a bad divorce will know what I mean, so everyone that is burning the American flag today here and abroad, remember that only love can spark such hate. America is loved for what it promises to be, and hated when that promise is not fulfilled.
I’m not sure what to do about all of it, but I know this, I will fight for your right to do something that I find repugnant – burning our National flag. I will fight for your right to do something I don’t approve of, because that’s what Freedom means. It doesn’t mean freedom from being offended, or disappointed, but freedom of belief, speech, and actions within the law. Enjoy your flag burnings if it makes you happier, but I see it as the same as someone’s ex-wife burning the husband’s car. It’s a way of saying, I am hurting so much, and I want you to hurt, too. I hope we find a way in the coming months to help everyone stop hurting and find a way for all of us to start healing.
Now, I’m going to join my family and raise the flag of our country, so that all our neighbors can see it, because I do love my country. I don’t always love the politicians, or their policies, but they are not the country. Sometimes I think the politicians forget that America is two things, the land itself and the people, all the people, that inhabit it. Sometimes I think we, the people, forget that we are the nation and every time we let politics, or economics, or anything divide us, then we are weaker for it. As a group the American people can do anything we set our minds to, I truly believe that, but we all need to remember that we are the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. United we stand, divided we fall, isn’t just a saying, it’s the truth.
I don’t agree with any of you that are protesting and burning our flag today, but I will defend your right to do it. I hope you will give me the same courtesy and support my right to hoist the flag high and honor it.
Tag: Fourth of July
Are Fireworks worth the Risk?
It will be 103 to 106F on the Fourth of July tomorrow. Yeah, you read that right a hundred and freaking six degrees Fahrenheit. Like much of the country we are also in a drought. It’s so dry here most of the professional fireworks have been cancelled, and we are at a high alert for fire. After watching the Colorado fires on the news and on the internet you’d think people would understand what risk they’re running by shooting off fireworks this year, but even as as I type this I can hear them going off somewhere in the distance, so I’m doing this blog.
Are fireworks this year really worth burning down your house? If they are, then by all means go ahead. Some houses burn down every year in this country due to fireworks landing on roofs, and other parts, but this year . . . this year someone has the opportunity not just to take out their own house, but the neighbors, or the entire neighborhood.
I know you spent money on the fireworks, but they’ll still be good after it rains in a few weeks, and we aren’t under a fire advisory. Let’s all just have Fourth of July in August, surely by then this heat and drought will be gone. We can have the Fourth of August and shoot every damn firework you have, but now, tomorrow, please don’t.
Look around your house, right now, see all your stuff, now picture it gone. Picture all of it gone, what the fire doesn’t get the water damage from the firemen putting out the fire will probably destroy. Are fireworks for Fourth of July 2012 really worth losing it all? It is?
Okay, is shooting off fireworks for the actual date worth destroying your neighbors’ house, and all their stuff? How about if they have small children who go to bed early, and the fire you start in your yard jumps to their house, and they can’t get their children out in time? Is having fireworks tomorrow worth them dying and you living with the knowledge that because you just had to have those bottle rockets, children are dead.
You think I’m being harsh? How about the lives of the firemen and women that will be fighting the fire that your Roman candle set off? Do you care if they get burned, hurt, dead? Do you give a shit? Then, don’t set off any fireworks until the fire danger is past.
If you value the stuff in your house, the lives of your family, your pets, the property, and lives of your neighbors, hold off on the fireworks, please. And all of you know that every time you hear someone set off fireworks today, tomorrow, or the next day, that person is risking everything you’ve worked for, every memory from your family, those pictures of your grandparents, or great grandparents, all your memories are up for grabs, because someone near you just has to have fireworks while we are under a severe fire threat. So, every time you hear a firework go off, know that they not only are risking their own lives, but your life and the lives of your children.
We’ve already had one fire here in Mark Twain National Forest which was about 90 miles from St. Louis. So far the brave men and women of our fire service, and our forestry service have done their best here and out west, but I’m betting that they, and their families would ask you all, to please, just wait. It will rain, it will get cooler, and then we can all party, and blow the whole bundle of fireworks. We can light the sky red, white, blue, and purple, but not now. Not until it’s safe.
If you want to burn your own house down, I don’t advise it, but it’s your choice that having fireworks right this minute means more to you than your memories and your belongings, but please, do not make that choice for the rest of us. We want all of us to live through this holiday, don’t you?