Happy 4th! Welcome to the soapbox!I have an aversion to large crowds, with a few exceptions, like baseball games, where everyone has their own seat and their own space. Still, my aversion to crowds keeps me at home today instead of down on the Mall with the million other people who are melting in the 100 degree weather, a million people who are wearing red, white, and blue, waving little flags, and celebrating the gift of freedom.
Our country is unique in that it celebrates its Independence Day with picnics and friends and family rather than military parades and government-sanctioned gatherings. We get to watch baseball games (I thought of going to the Nats game, but it is roasting out) and root, root, root for the hometeam if we choose to do so. We can go swimming by clean(er) beaches and read whatever books we want, no matter how offensive to some people. We can take refuge from the heat inside our airconditioned dwellings and not think twice about the electricity going out. Nobody tells us what kind of clothing we can wear - shorts, tank tops, bikinis - those are all fine. We can criticize our government when it screws up. It is, after all, a government of, for, and by the people, not some uncontrollable entity about which we can do nothing. The only way government can control us is if we sit around and don't pay attention. (And tsk, tsk to those of you who don't.)
In the past few years, we've let some of those ideals slip. We've become complacent in giving away some of those freedoms on which this country was founded, all in the name of "security." As Benjamin Franklin, one of the great men who bestowed the gift of freedom upon us, once said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary saftey deserve neither liberty not saftey." Today, I hope people will reflect upon the liberty they've been given. Vow never to let it slip away. That flag means everything, but you have to remember that flag isn't just about those who've died for it, it's for the men (and the women behind the men) who created the greatest document every written, the US Constitution (read it!) It's for those who worked to end slavery, who pushed for labor laws, who stood beside MLK to fight for civil rights so that none in America are treated as second class citizens. It's for the inventors, the scientists, the doctors, those who have propelled America to the top of innovation, technology, and progress. It's for the Irish who built America with their labor, the Italians, the Poles, the Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Ethiopians, Hispanics, the globe... It's for teachers, farmers, and yes, even baseball players, who provide us with entertainment, for in our prosperous society, we can afford to spend time and money on leisure.
The ideas that this country espouses - liberty, freedom from tyranny, equality of opportunity - these aren't solely American ideas. These are global ideas, human ideas, deserved by each and every person on this Earth who has the good fortune of taking a breath of precious air. These ideas are what made America the dream of so many who wanted to escape tyranny, poverty, who wanted a better life for themselves and their families. We can't forget that. We can't forget that nearly all of us came from somewhere else. We're the lucky ones, not the better ones. We've been blessed with the gift of life in a free and prosperous country, and none of us should ever take that for granted. Celebrate. Celebrate liberty. Celebrate life!
And with that being said, I must watch Germany crush Italy in the world's game.
(Although those Italians are really nice to look at.)
[/soapbox]
UPDATE: Well, now, there's no one left to root for but France. Germany, it was a heck of a ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment