Fourth of July (Repost) - Celebrate With Our Neighbors
Fireworks are an artifact going all the way back to no less than the Chinese emperors. This artifact produces memories which last a lifetime...what would the Fourth of July be without fireworks. Check out below my own personal memories from my essay on stadiums and cook-outs and fireworks viewed sitting on the grass. Feel free to leave your comments and share your personal memories on these historic emblems of Independence Day. (This essay was posted for the first time in July 2013 in a post titled "Fourth of July Fireworks, an Essay and Tips ...." The photograph is another view of the flag.)
Fourth of July holiday weekend always means fireworks. It more likely also means steamy hot and humid. I love summer it is my favorite season and the summer holidays were special when I was young - Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. The trio of patriotic celebrations covers the summer months. The celebrations are all about good citizenship, a very important attribute for a country and its inhabitants. We are celebrating work, freedom and sacrifice. The trilogy stands in opposition to the laziness of the long hot summer. We get a vacation in the languid peace of a long summer day to look at the harvest of our patriotism.
From my grandparents’ home you could see the baseball stadium in the distance. The fireworks would rise from the stadium walls seeming to explode over the crowd sitting on blankets and metal folding chairs. We gathered together and sat on the soft grass and you could feel the closeness with all your neighbors, and America truly seemed a great nation.
Back then sports teams were not so glorified, they were simply loved. The joy of a home team was in the home town spirit not the star players.. You knew your team colors and the ultimate banner was red, white and blue. Everyone could recognize the beauty and power of the flag unfurling across a summer sky and the glorious sound of the Star Spangled Banner being sung. Team USA was as real as the neighborhood softball league.
Fast forward to 2000 and the new millennium. The trilogy looks different some days.
Internet connections sometimes overtake the virtues of hard work. The values of the fifties have faded some and washed out like old blue denim jeans. Yet, our holidays are still here and perhaps again briefly under the fireworks we are still neighbors and friends in real life. And we celebrate what is good about living in a country where we can still gather round and remember to believe in each other one more time.
