Let Freedom Ring
July 4th holds special memories for me. My family almost always celebrated the Fourth with fireworks at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park. Watching the colorful explosions of light atop the mountain, wearing my red, white, and blue, while sitting on an old blanket surrounded by family brought a feeling of safety, togetherness, and permanence that carried into my adult life, still surrounded by loved ones, but in different locations.
We often scheduled our family vacations around the holiday, but always managed to see the fireworks, catching displays in Washington, DC, on a levee in Hannibal, Missouri, and at Buckhorn Lake in Kentucky one very foggy evening. More than once, we watched fireworks explode over the water from the bridge to St. George Island, and caught a bonus show across the bay from Apalachicola, Florida.
If we weren’t on vacation, we’d claim a spot in the local Walmart parking lot and tune our radio to whatever station was sponsoring the show of lights synchronized with the music.
Later, after we moved to Tennessee, I was a delegate to the National Education Association representative assembly for four years, so I got to add to my repertoire of fireworks viewing spots: over the National Mall in DC, reflected off the glass surface of a building across from my hotel in Chicago, over the Mississippi River in New Orleans, and at a Padres game in San Diego.
Those years, away from family, were different, and that separation underscored what was most important about the holiday.
On Independence Day we remember the vision of our founding fathers and celebrate the good of our nation, the unity among families finding common ground in our rich heritage of freedom, the assurance of justice, and that promise of the American Dream.
The irony of my childhood celebrations of our United States of America taking place in a park that celebrated the secession of the Confederacy completely escaped me as a child.
As an adult, I recognize that a unified nation is stronger and more productive than one which can’t see the stars for the stripes. Before we can move on as a country, we must acknowledge that our vast and diverse nation, like many families, has some problems. Democracy is messy.
Our differences divide us. We must learn to listen to the wheat farmer from Kansas, the teacher from Alaska, the rancher from Texas, the lawyer from New York, the government worker from Georgia, the store clerk from Delaware. Life is different in different states.
Everyone deserves representation.
When we lose sight of the stars, the ideals our nation claims to represent, we tend to segregate ourselves in stripes as Us against Them. And no matter which side of the fight we find ourselves on, we all pay a price.
In our country’s rich history, the earlier Articles of Confederation gave way to our Constitution, in which the founders, “in order to form a more perfect union,” signified their intent and their recognition that perfection is an ongoing aspiration. Improving our nation requires a continuous effort. We must not rest on our laurels, simply waving the flag and wearing patriotic clothes, while turning our eyes skyward, away from those left out of the American dream, those whose rights are being trampled or whose freedom is being denied.
Instead, we need to remember those American ideals of liberty, justice, and freedom. We need to hold fast to opportunities to move forward, to respect our differences, protect our freedoms, and work through the differences that divide us, to the betterment of all.