What do we have to celebrate this weekend? The country is led by a deranged narcissist whose cult has millions of members. The once great Republican Party is now a shell devoid of decency or backbone. The Democratic Party is better by comparison, but that isn’t saying much. Racism and unrest are abroad in the land. We’re in the midst of a pandemic in which countless Americans refuse to embrace even basic safeguards. Unemployment dropped to 11.1 percent in June, but it remains high and it may rise again, thanks to a new wave of infections. Families are struggling. Businesses are reeling, or calling it quits. Yet there is no credible leadership in Washington. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the president stokes the fires of fear and hatred.
Then Liz reminded me that flying the flag on the Fourth is not about the current state of the nation. It’s about celebrating what was accomplished in July 1776, when 13 rambunctious, quarrelsome, mutually suspicious colonies joined forces to declare their independence, laying the groundwork for a war that eventually achieved that goal.
Our country is only 244 years old, and sometimes I fear that we may not have the wisdom and willpower to keep the experiment going much longer. But despite our many 21st-century failings, we still honor those who got the ball rolling 244 years ago, the founders who pledged “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” to the cause. They gave us hope then. Perhaps they can do so now as well.
When we returned home from an outing early yesterday afternoon, I flew the flag from our front porch, as I have done on the Fourth for the 32 years we have lived here. Better late than never. Long may she wave.
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