Celebrating the Fourth

The Fourth of July is one of the most festive holiday's we have. Many go to the lake or meet with friends or have their own cookouts in their back yards. I remember the Fourth vividly when I was a child growing up in Arkansas. My Uncle Bill and I would drive across the tracks to the ice house and get a big block of ice. We would take it back home where we would chip it into little pieces to put in the home-made ice-cream machine.

When it was ready, the women would take turns turning the hand-crank until the ice cream was creamy and delicious.

My uncle and my dad would grill hamburgers in the back yard and when they were ready, the women would serve them up on plates filled with potato chips, potato salad and baked beans. The potato salad and the baked beans were always homemade. We would then top the meal off with big dishes of the homemade ice cream recently prepared and ice-cold watermelon and cantaloupe. We would then wait impatiently for dusk to fall so we could shoot off our own fireworks, just like families were doing in practically every back-yard in town.

I didn't give much thought when I was young to the significance of July 4th. It was just always a joyful day to be spent with my family and sometimes friends that would drop by. I didn't realize then that the fireworks that were going off all over town was a symbolic way to emphasize the words Francis Scott Key wrote when he penned the Star Spangled Banner, .. "and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

But as I grew and developed and learned more about this great country of ours, the things we and others did to celebrate the Fourth took on more and more significance, as it became imbedded in my heart and my soul that we recognize this one day in the year to celebrate our freedom and the privilege of living in a land where the sky is the limit and the stars are always reachable. I also learned that living free brought with it obligations and responsibilities as well.

The late, great comedian, George Carlin, once said in one of his televised specials that he was probably not seen as a good American by a lot of people living in this country because he learned much earlier in his life to think for himself and to not abide by the status quo just because that's what everybody else was doing.

I believe that's one of the greatest things we can learn as free Americans and is, in fact, the ultimate display of patriotism. Because when we learn how to think critically and analytically, we learn how to look at all sides instead of just one side. And looking at all sides is not an example of a namby-pamby, wishy-washy, thought process.

In fact, it's just the opposite. Looking at all sides allows a person to reach an objective decision about where to take a stand, rather than a pre-conceived, handed-down, or imposed definition of the world that requires no thought at all.

It's certainly easier to believe rumor and gossip and unsolicited e-mails we receive than it is to seek out the facts on our own but it's ultimately more rewarding to do the latter. One of the best ways to do this, for those of you with computer access, is to go to snopes.com and simply type in key words about the subject or person you want to know about. This Web site is often referred to as "rumor central" because if there's a story going around about anyone or anything, Snopes is likely to have the truth about what you've heard or read.

"And the truth shall set you free."

I believe it is the patriotic duty of ALL American citizens to remember that our leaders work for us and not the other way around. And that they don't always have our best interests at heart. And that we are obligated to hold their feet to the fire in order to insure honesty and integrity and forth-rightness. And when they're not doing what they pledged to do, to kick them out and hire someone else. And to never lose sight of the great principles this republic was founded on and to insure that they don't forget either.

George Carlin had his admirers and his detractors, like anyone with a public persona does. And Carlin wasn't always necessarily right in his musings either, just like none of the rest of us are. He's quoted in this week's Time magazine as saying the following about the human condition:

"I sort of gave up on this whole human adventure a long time ago. Divorced myself from it emotionally. I think the human race has squandered its gift and this country has squandered its promise. I think people in American sold out very cheaply, for sneakers and cheeseburgers. And I don't think it's fixable."

But everything IS fixable. Many of us have gone to the breaking point in our own lives, only to reel ourselves back in and regain some semblance of balance. It's not an easy thing to do but it's possible. Individuals eliminate bad habits every day and wrong-headed, rumor-driven, groupthink is a bad habit, regardless of which political, religious, or social group one belongs to.

We can all do better; as individuals, as group members and as Americans. The American dream of truth, justice, and the American way may be in a coma but it's sure not dead yet and we have the ability to revive it, get it back on its feet and make it the beacon of hope that it was for so long and can be again.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!