Flashback Friday - Hippies Like America, Too

Do I want to post a politically-tinged 4th of July comment?  Well, I guess I chose "Yes".  You have been warned.

I posted this a few years ago and again last summer.  It may be my go-to 4th of July post because in two paragraphs I seemed to get the most mundane - most mainstream - most naïve of an American experience.  It was written before the election of 2016 and back in those days we all seemed to take so much for granted:  Congress sucked (when hasn't it), President this or President that messed around the edges and we'd tut-tut.  Today, seems different, however.  If you are all in with our present guy, then good for you.  If you are not, then an election is looming.  What does it mean to be an American today?   What do we all have in common regardless of our party affiliation?  What do we love or don't love as a commonality?  I have never been less certain.  Reagan is famous for saying he didn't leave the Democratic party, it left him.  Much like how I feel about this country now.  Concentration camps, a news outlet (Fox) that is a propaganda arm of the President.  A rise in white supremacy and a disdain for immigrants.  A cozying up to dictators and a coldness to old established allies.  Hatred for a free press and a public ignoring the criminal deeds outlined in the Mueller Report.  Fake news, fake tweets, daily lies and nepotism.  

We seem to be less nice, less trusting, more willing to believe anything we hear, far readier to fight than listen, following our biases than our truths.  I'm prepared to hand it over to those who hate, those who chant whatever the guy wants you to chant, and to walk away from the fight.  Maybe we need to hit rock bottom before we can rebuild.  Maybe we need to see us as we are.  There is nothing in the Constitution that says we will survive.      

What do we have in common today?  Damned if I know.  Maybe nothing.  Maybe everything we had before.  This 4th I hope we think about the things we have, things lost, and things we buried and need to find again.  Old Glory stands for something.  Does it stand for me anymore?  Maybe not.  

Copy and paste this into your browser for a short thought provoking video.



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/opinion/america-great.html

       

I'll be taking the next couple days off.    We'll be back next Tuesday.

This is a reblog. 

In what looks unfortunately like a mix between Dennis Hopper and Corey Feldman,  here is your patriotic blogger back in a day when headbands and "cool" were in.  Of course cool is always in, but capturing it for film is not, and looking back, I likely missed the mark by a wide mile this time, too.  But a kid tries.  No year is mentioned on this pic but it is definitely college era as attested by the fraternity T.   It is summer and flag is half mast honoring the end of another great American, unknown on this particular day.  It could very well have been the 4th of July, so that's what we will pretend on this 4th Eve many years hence.  

Tomorrow in America we will gather for family cook-outs, fireworks displays, and picnics.  From BFE at the Civic Center to the Vinoy Park folks will mingle with a beer, a soda and families and friends will embrace to enjoy a day off.  There will huge 4th of July sales for everything conceivable in an effort to empty full warehouses.  The word Independence (capitalized for a reason) will be splashed wherever human eyes can see it.  When was the last time you thought about the word?  I mean really thought about it. 

Independence: "not influenced or controlled by others" is the general definition.  Imagine that.  Today across the world there 35 major conflicts with 3 billion people being influenced or controlled by others.  People whose lives have been shattered, families separated, normal routine schedules eliminated resulting in danger, physical threats, loss of belongings and personal wealth and even death.  There are refugee camps all over some continents holding the displaced and abandoned.  In the Sudan babies will die of hunger, in Ghana people will die of unsafe sanitation.  In Pakistan children will be sold to pay off debts, and in Thailand 8 year-old girls sold to sex profiteers.  Slavery is still big business in all parts the world.   

When you arise tomorrow and make your coffee you can be assured your water will work.  When you walk out to check on the grill in the garage you likely won't see military trucks with their guns aimed at you.  When you go to the nearest grocery store you will know that anything you need for that big party bash will be well stocked and abundant.   Your guests will arrive and leave without going through checkpoints or fear hijacking from roving gangs.  That is my idea of Independence.  All too often we take for granted the freedoms we enjoy, assuming that what we have is a common experience.  But for 3 billion fear and hunger is their common experience.  Enjoy the 4th of July but also remember that running water, that convenience store, and the smiles on all those faces.  It is a rare and valuable thing - a little more than half of every soul alive today enjoys true Independence.