July 4th 2012, Independence Day. Some Thoughts.

July 4th 1776, the birth of our nation. Independence day, our nations birthday. Happy Birthday America 236 years old quite an achievement. I think our nations forefathers would be proud and mortified at the same time with what we have done with the place. That’s what freedom does though it allows us to make mistakes, and allows us to fix them.

I say mortified because of the way we learn about our nation’s officials and how we let others decide our opinions for us. Granted times have changed the possibility of us knowing any of our leaders personally is very slim now. However, we don’t make much effort to try either. I think all of us could do a better job looking into not only what our elected officials say they do but what they actually do. I also think they would be proud of us. We still hold to their ideals even when we are being foolish. We are honestly trying a good example would be the recent Supreme court decision about health care. They were right; it wasn’t their job to knock the law down. It was their job to decide if Congress had the constitutional right to enact it. The Supreme court did its job, even if I don’t like it.

On the serious side of the equation… We do get to play with explosives on the 4th of July. Nothing more fun than tossing a pack of firecrackers into your friends BBQ when he’s flipping a burger (Sorry Phil). We do celebrate our Independence here, and we have a grand time doing it. I love parades and BBQ and friends and family… and yes fireworks, which are illegal in NY, so I won’t have any. I probably shouldn’t anyway after the incident with the mortars. Then again, it’s unfailingly easier to measure how far one will fly if you lie it on the ground and fire it straight down the road… We had no way to know it would fly three blocks and explode in a parking lot setting off all the alarms. Now we know better… see freedom doesn’t always mean smart. That was an example, I never did that… just so you know.

Oh and let us not forget…. all the carnivals and fairs that go on. Who doesn’t love eating piles of junk food and then getting on the Zipper? Just make sure you remember to empty your pockets first 🙂 I love the carnival, so much to see and do. Bright lights, junk food, rides and games and best of all… Freedom epitomized. A clown in a dunking booth… a rude obnoxious clown that gets to make comments about people, because he can. Granted he ends up getting softballs thrown at him, but he still gets to do it. I so want to be the clown in the dunking booth…

Related articles

• Don’t Forget Why We Celebrate The Fourth of July….And Fireworks…. (noahring.wordpress.com)
• How presidents, candidates mark the 4th (cbsnews.com)
• Veterans outlook on Independence day.