When you get right down to it, the Fourth of July is a birthday really, one that encompasses an entire country and culture. Since all birthdays are a celebration of whatever it is the birthday is for, I am going to abandon my usual slightly skeptical political view point and just go along with the celebratory flow.
The United States of America was born out of a time when a aura of real independence covered the East and some of the South East as well. The colony’s, although separated by some ideals and customs, strove for a life that could not be had in Europe.
This eventually of course lead to a war for independence, one that to this day still stands as one of the biggest revolutions in history. In this age of violent protests and rampant corruption, it is easy to forget that many rights that were fought for well over two hundred years ago still stand true today.
Religious freedom, right to vote for our representatives in the government, the freedom to move freely around the world, the right to information as varied as we can find and the rights that still have not be entaken away yet to raise arms against any invader or corrupt leadership.
The list could go on and on and most likely fill at least a couple pages of this fine locally produced American product that you hold in your hand (did I mention freedom of the press?), a list that is less dense in other parts of the world.
As with all ideals and social structures, those same freedoms can fall victim to the darker temptations and Human folly that can and will infest good intentions. However, if one half of a field of crops goes bad, you don’t throw the other good half away just because of the bad half’s misfortune.
Outside of this sacred printed space I am so graciously afforded every month, I am tuned a bit more into the radical and skeptical view of how our country is currently being run. This is only because I know that although I love the historical philosophy of this great land I also know that there is no thing as a ‘best’ country because there is always room for improvement.
Once you believe you are the best, you forget about the fight that got you to that plateau in the first place.
Now we have reached a direct demonstration of just how powerful the victories won on that day were. Because some of the words I just typed above, straight from mind to blank virtual canvas could not be written everywhere in the world today.
In some places there would be misfortune, imprisonment or possibly even death.
Patriot is a word that is thrown about a lot these days, mostly in outrage at just how badly some of the dreams of our founding fathers are being kept. Some outrage is righteous, while others sadly just have an agenda of one sort or another attached.
I use the word patriot to identify myself, not despite my radical viewpoints but rather because without that document, that one declaration of still resounding freedom, they might not exist at all.
This small collection of words, like so many others being written or sung or played out on a stage as you read this are testament’s to that one original collection of words that preceded it.
