Just re-read the last two posts. Kind of a downer. July 4 has never been my favorite holiday, even as a kid. I mentioned cat tranquilizers--I really don't like loud, unexpected noises. And I know this is a cheap shot, but I'm willing to bet that of all the people setting off the fireworks I heard around the neighborhood last night, exactly zero percent of them were thinking about our country or about the (white) (men) people who engineered our government those many years ago. We live in an almost unique, historical bubble in which, for the most part, we have an enormous amount of freedom and prosperity, and we have those people to thank for it, and today's the day.
I know. We have a long way to go, and I'm not writing this to outline the many problems our country, our culture, faces right now. But, so far, at least, the platform on which we stand, our country and our government, our body of laws, will allow us to solve them if we only have the political will.
Anyway, not to wax annoying. This is also a four-day weekend and anything that gets people home and enables the gatherings of family and friends is a good thing, despite the noise.
Happy 5th, Roy!
ReplyDeleteIt's weird how fireworks don't bother me, even though I hate noise in general. Except for a few startling moments, it's all at this low rumbling level that I have no problem handling. Gatsby doesn't GAF about them either. And I enjoy actually going out to see a professional display, as I did last night. But I am totally aboard with banning them around where people live because it's so upsetting to some humans and pets and triggers them into massive stress. If ya wanna do 'em, drive out to an open field. Why can't this be a compromise? That said, I saw some pics on FB of people lighting them in the streets of AZ with all these little kids around and, well, what are you going to do about such idiocy? How can we possibly address all the abounding stupidity? I just can't even...
The idea of simulating war-like noises to celebrate the Declaration of Independence is kind of childish, I think. And the Revolutionary War itself was kind of unremarkable, anyway. I think we won by a fluke. We should rightly celebrate the ideas that some pretty smart men put into writing to get our fledgling country off the ground, but no one wants to spend a four-day weekend contemplating socio-political ideology.
ReplyDeleteSpent July 4 with my parents. There were two different neighbors setting off fireworks. It almost felt like a rap battle of sorts, in a way.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we have many silly traditions, setting off fireworks being one of them. I don't get why we sing the national anthem at sporting events. Stuffing our faces with absurd amounts of food on Thanksgiving when we are supposed to be thankful for what we have seems counterproductive. I don't understand the why behind Christmas traditions, although then again, I don't celebrate Christmas. But Judaism isn't immune. The story of Chanukah was basically re-written to be about the festival of lights and the miracle of the oil because the Rabbis didn't want the focus on celebrating a war victory.
I always thought that Jewish celebrations and traditions always made much more sense than the Christian/American ones but I think mainly when any of them become overblown extravaganzas (like Christmas, New Years, 4th of July) then they become especially onerous. Sometimes I feel like Steinbeck's boys in Cannery Row who won't turn to look at the Independence Day parade as it goes by out their window.
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