Tag Independence Day

Making Beautiful Music Together – Revisited

Michael 5 Comments

While I was pondering what to post on a day that falls between the second of July (lower case “s” and the Fourth of July (upper case “F,” aka Independence Day), I found that recently I had definitely overplayed the not as entertaining as it used to be “weekend holiday sales theme,” the self-righteous “everybody is wrong about what this holiday means” theme, the angry “why do people keep referencing their [fill your favorite amendment] and what they authors of [that favorite amendment] meant when nobody alive now was around when [said aforementioned amendment] was passed” theme.

What was I to do? I went back and checked on some of the previous Fourth of July aka Independence Day posts and found one that I really like, and it wasn’t even sarcastic or flippant. So I’m reposting that here and then I’ll be back at the end to tell you what I think about it today. (This post isn’t that old and some of you might actually remember it.)

For some reason I was thinking of a time ago when my daughter was a teenager filling her after school day hours with after school activities. Two of those activities, or one with two arms perhaps, were concert band and marching band when she played flute and piccolo respectively. The thing about those particular winds is that, except for perhaps in the fingers of Ian Anderson, they rarely play much that by themselves would be recognizable as music. While she would practice, I couldn’t be sure she was playing the right notes but during the performances, with the other winds, strings, and percussion, all the individual pieces came together to form true music. Every now and then an instrument might be featured in a solo, but for far longer the group played ensemble to make the really good stuff.

In a sappy poetic way, America is like those bands. Alone, we don’t sound like much. We’re single instruments playing random notes that make little sense alone. If you put all the piccolos together, they still don’t make much musical sense, only now they make it louder. Likewise, groups of like-thinking individuals spouting the same lines make little sense even when making a lot of noise. No, it’s not the number of people that make the country, it’s the variety. It might not work for other countries and that’s fine, but for America to work, there must be different voices, playing different parts of the same song.

Lately too many of us have been closing our ears to the other instruments that make up the American band. We’re content hearing only our own part, or worse, playing only solos. Then we question why others aren’t thinking the same thing. Oddly, the others are wondering likewise, everybody convinced their part is the main part, that their idea is the right idea. Why won’t everybody think alike? It really isn’t a matter of why everybody won’t think or say or do the same things. It’s because we can’t. We can’t think the same things because we don’t have the same backgrounds to formulate those thoughts. No matter how hard a piccolo tries, it cannot reach the same notes as a tuba.

You can only listen to a tuba solo – or piccolo or sax or marimba – for so long before you get up and walk out on the concert. The strength of the band, the beauty of the music, is not in the instrument. It is in the players who know when to play their notes, trusting that by allowing the other musicians to play their own notes, they will make beautiful music together.

This Independence Day, take a moment to think about how our differences are what makes us unique as a country. Yes, celebrate those differences, but celebrate the whole also. The music sounds best when all the instruments are playing together. Celebrate this Independence Day and enjoy our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of really good harmony.

We’re quite thankful for the freedoms we have and for those who continue to work to keep them for us.  I was one of those some years ago doing just that.  So maybe that’s why when I talk about what freedom means, or how I’d like to envision an harmonious country, I’m willing to take a few liberties with our liberties.  Be as rebellious as you want, but be mindful that freedom doesn’t come easy.  Nor does it come by the actions of one person, one group, or one party.

Go ahead and selfishly enjoy your freedom tomorrow. Wednesday, get back to the work of playing your part to see that next year you can again celebrate with those you don’t see eye to eye with, but you couldn‘t be an American without.

“Love begins with listening,” says Fred Rogers. In the latest Uplift! we say why we think that listening is an essential way of saying I love you, and might be the greatest gift we can give to somebody. (Approximate reading time = 3 minutes)

Happy Birthday America!

Making Beautiful Music Together

Michael 2 Comments

For some reason I was thinking of a time ago when my daughter was a teenager filling her after school day hours with after school activities. Two of those activities, or one with two arms perhaps, were concert band and marching band when she played flute and piccolo respectively. The thing about those particular winds is that, except for perhaps in the fingers of Ian Anderson, they rarely play much that by themselves would be recognizable as good music. While she would practice, I couldn’t be sure she was playing the right notes but during the performances, with the other winds, strings, and percussion, all the individual pieces came together to form true music. Every now and then an instrument might be featured in a solo but for far longer the group played ensemble to make the really good stuff.

In a sappy poetic way, America is like those bands. Alone, we don’t sound like much. We’re single instruments playing random notes that make little sense alone. If you put all the piccolos together, they still don’t make much musical sense, only now they make little sense louder. Likewise, groups of like-thinking individuals spouting the same lines make little sense even when making a lot of noise. No, it’s not the number of people that make the country, it’s the variety. It might not work for other countries and that’s fine, but for America to work, there have to be different voices, playing different parts of the same song.

Lately too many of us have been closing our ears to the other instruments that make up the American band. We’re content hearing only our own part, or worse, playing only solos. Then we question why others are thinking the same thing. Oddly, the others are wondering likewise, everybody convinced their part is the main part, that their idea is the right idea. Why won’t everybody think alike? It really isn’t a matter of why everybody won’t think or say or do the same things. It’s because we can’t. We can’t think the same things because we don’t have the same backgrounds to formulate those thoughts. No matter how hard a piccolo tries, it cannot reach the same notes as a tuba.

You can only listen to a tuba solo – or piccolo or sax or marimba – for so long before you get up and walk out on the concert. The strength of the band, the beauty of the music, is not in the instrument. It is in the players who know when to play their notes, trusting that by allowing the other musicians to play their own notes, they will make beautiful music together.

This Independence Day, take a moment to think about how our differences are what makes us unique as a country. Yes, celebrate those differences, but celebrate the whole also. The music sounds best when all the instruments are playing together. Celebrate this Independence Day and enjoy our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of really good harmony.

Happy Birthday America!

Happy American Day

Michael Leave a comment
Happy Fourth of July! I say that as opposed to Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans because although I am certain that today is July 4 I’m not sure if we weren’t supposed to celebrate our independence yesterday, thus insuring the federal employees their well deserved three day weekend, because what good is getting a holiday off if it is a scheduled day off anyway. And as everybody knows even though Congress decided to send King George our intent to be so on this day in 1776, we really didn’t become independent from the Crown until October 19, 1781.
 
So…Happy Something! Happy Saturday if nothing else. I don’t normally post on Saturdays, in fact I think it was more than 8 years ago that I last did this but these are not normal times. This is a particularly not normal American Independence Day weekend with so many Americans taking their freedom to task as opposed to taking it for granted which would make this a particularly normal American Independence Day weekend.
 
continentalflagI can’t say with certainty so somebody please correct me if I misspeak but I feel certain that America is the only nation that qualifies its citizens. We claim we want to be equal. We protest for equality. We write letters and poorly articulated social mode posts demanding equality. And then we differentiate. We have African Americans, Asian Americans, Indigenous Americans, Mexican Americans. Other ethnic groups celebrate being German, Irish, or Polish American. Yet it’s only a small portion of Americans who ever lived anywhere other than America. I guess they would be American Americans. A friend of mine emigrated from Vietnam to Canada before immigrating to the U.S.. Does that make her Asian American or Canadian American? Was she an Asian Canadian before. Are there African Canadians or Scandinavian Canadians? What goes on in the rest of the world? As the son of Italian Americans here, if I relocate to my homeland in the mountains facing the Adriatic would I be an American Italian there?
 
I have a hunch the labels are mostly assigned by those outside the ethnicities to track how well they (the assigners) do something in their mind “special” for one of the assigned. Not ever having been assigned (European American is not an option) I can’t say if they (the assigned) really care much. Maybe it’s more important to be treated respectfully than being called by the “proper” term and still treated like an object to be used for effect.
 
There have been a multitude of posts on social media declaring “This Fourth of July act like an American!” It’s not a horrible idea you know. For all its faults and flaws America, actually Americans do a credible job living up to the standards envisioned 250 years ago. (Yeah, yeah, it’s only been 244. Actually its only been 239 (1781, remember) but it took a few years even back then to get up to speed.) When nobody is watching we typically do the right things. We mostly honor our families, we support the local businesses, we get out to help our neighbors who might have trouble shopping or cleaning or are just lonely. And most of us mostly do that for most anybody without checking IDs or birth certificates. Acting like an American is pretty much like acting human, like the rest of the world. So I too will say, this Fourth of July act like an American! But might I humbly suggest we act that way the other days of the year too.
 
Happy First Saturday of July!
 
 
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Happy Independence Day

Michael Leave a comment

Happy Fourth of July. Interestingly nobody seems to call it Independence Day any longer. That’s because we are mostly a confused group of people. That’s we from the USA. you other we people (as opposed to wee people which would probably have somebody somewhere in the Good Ole U. S. of A. organizing a protest) might or might not but that’s not for me to question because even if you have your own freedom of speech, well that’s yours, not mine.

Anyway, what ever happened to Independence Day? I even conducted my own experiment and earlier this week asked 4 people “Do you have any plans for Independence Day?” I got 2 “What? Oh, do you mean the Fourth of July?” one “Wasn’t that last  month?” and one “What I do every weekend,” which was actually confusing since the holiday is not on a weekend day making me wonder if the respondent did not know what Independence Day is, did not know when Independence Day is, or is planning on a four day weekend because by gosh by golly if the holiday is on a Thursday then it is truly and justly our God given American right to make it a four f-ing day holiday! I will be the first to admit that is a small sample size (unless you already brought that up to yourself while you were reading those preceding sentences so then I’ll be the second to admit it) but it’s clear (to me at least) that 50% of the country is confused (see, I told you), 25% is clueless, and 25% is out for him or herself at all costs.

A quick check of the local paper confirms this. In the last couple weeks there have been 2 separate instances of people pressuring a charitable organization from presenting the fundraiser “Drag Queen Bingo” and a non profit, privately held library from holding a “Drag Queen Story Hour,” reading program in the children’s section. These are the confused people. They are confused because the same people who had been quoted in the articles as saying (I’m paraphrasing here) we can’t expose our children to such aberrations were expressing love and acceptance of all people at the opening of the “Pride Parade” four weeks earlier. Agree or disagree. It confuses people when you do both.

A suburban community Fourth of July parade is being protested by a group organized by a local man to “shed light on the District Attorney’s failure to represent certain victims of violent crimes.” The organizer of the protest has just been released from prison where he served a 4-10 year sentence for aggravated assault, a violent crime. I would say he and his followers are on the clueless end of the “what’s wrong with this picture” spectrum.

For this year’s example of one out for one’s self we must turn to the national news. I was unaware that the colonial flag was symbolic of slavery and racism but then I wasn’t around 243 years ago so I can’t say for sure what they were thinking when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. Oh wait, nobody alive today was there either, not even a badly coiffed ex-football player.

Happy Birthday America. I’d suggest a stiff drink with the cake and fireworks.

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Happy Birthday America!

Michael Leave a comment

Hey, if people can have Christmas in July, I can celebrate the Fourth of July in January. Particularly since it belongs here. Now.

January 14, 1784, the United States of America was established as a sovereign power. It was then the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris ending the war with Great Britain. Officially today is known as Ratification Day. It’s probably celebrated as little as it is because so few Americans understand the concept of, or quite possibly even the word, ratification. If you’re not sure, don’t look it up in an on line dictionary. There you will find “the act of ratifying.” Useful, no? How about “the action of giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.” Better!

continentalflagWhat happened on July 4, 1776 was like America standing in the middle of the school yard shouting “I am the greatest!” What happened seven and a half years later was everybody else agreeing with them. (Us?) Sort of.

Seven and a half years is a long time for peace to be recognized. That because it wasn’t. Just because the U.S. declared itself independent in 1776 nobody was going to just take their word for it. (Our word?) King George wasn’t convinced and he kept sending troops to North America to convince them. (Us?) It wasn’t until September 1783 that peace was negotiated between the colonies and the crown, officially ending the American Revolution and recognizing the United States of America as an independent country. The treaty was negotiated in Paris and required the ratification of at least nine of thirteen states, a two-thirds majority, when Congress next met in January. Representatives from nine states attended and unanimously approved the treaty, ending the war and constituting the nation.

The proclamation went:

By the United States in Congress assembled, a proclamation: Whereas definitive articles of peace and friendship, between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty, were concluded and signed at Paris, on the 3rd day of September 1783 … we have thought proper by these presents, to notify the premises to all the good citizens of these United States …
Given under the seal of the United States, witness His Excellency Thomas Mifflin, our president, at Annapolis, this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four.

Wait, wait! Who is this Thomas Mifflin guy and why are they calling him president instead of George Washington. Thomas Mifflin was President of the Continental Congress, just like John Hancock was eight years earlier when Congress was working on that declaration thingy. George wasn’t elected president of the country until some five years later that year when the constitution was ratified calling call for a president of the country to preside over it. (Apologies to on-line dictionaries everywhere.). That’s a post for a different day.

But for today…happy birthday America! Now, who has the cake?

 

 

 

Happy [fill in the blank] Independence Day

Michael 3 Comments

Boy: Grandpa, did they have the fourth of July in Italy when you were growing up?

Old Man: Yes. In fact, they did. They have the fourth of July everywhere!

Ok, it’s an old joke. But actually, they do have a fourth of July, or more accurately a Fourth of July, or most accurately an Independence Day everywhere. No matter where Flagyou are reading this, sometime in the past, sometimes a quite distant past where you are isn’t what it used to be. Every nation on Earth at some time wasn’t. And a surprising number of when they became what they are happened in July.

There is our American Independence Day tomorrow on that at least here famous Fourth of July, commemorating when we told the English Crown that we would rather suffer through a couple hundred years of taxation with poor representation than another day of it without any representation.  The actual independence came five years, three months, and 15 days later when the British forces officially surrendered. All those Americans reading this, you knew that, right?

A couple of days ago, July 1 actually, our neighbors to the north celebrated Canada Day.When I was going to school it was known as Dominion Day (and probably was to a lot of Canadians back then also) and we were told it was the Canadian IndependenceFlags Day. What did we know? We’re Americans. I later learned that it actually commemorated the combining of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario into the Dominion of Canada, presenting a stronger unified border against the United States just in case the politicos in Washington having just reunited the states after the American Civil War might have designs on taking those Canadian provinces for their own. Our own. Somebody’s own. I found that out when the British Parliament declared Canada to be an independent nation 115 years later.

Another thing I learned in my American schooling was that July 14 was France’s Independence Day on what we were told they call Bastille Day. And in fact July 14 does commemorate the storming of the Bastille and the uniting of the French people against the monarchy in 1789. The French Republic was actually established on September 22, 1792 which like our October 19, 1781 doesn’t seem to be celebrated. Now you could say that all that isn’t really independence as much as a changing of the guard. For the real French Independence you have to go back to 481, give or take a couple of years, when the Kingdom of the Franks was founded by Clovis I with land taken from the Roman Empire.

WorldWhatever misconceptions I had of these days they were still momentous days in the formation of what nations share our terrestrial home today. But there are a lot more nations celebrating freedom this month. Twenty-one other nations from Algeria to Venezuela. (I was hoping when I did my research that I find Zimbabwe gained their independence from Great Britain in July but alas, it was actually on April 18.  But it would have made such a great sentence!)

So wherever you are, chances are pretty good that you or a nearby neighbor is celebrating something this month that made somewhere literally somewhere.

Happy Blank of July!

 

Bombs Bursting ‘n’at

Michael Leave a comment

I couldn’t wait for the Fourth of July this year. It is a Monday and that coincides with RRSB day and I knew exactly what to say. I was going to let all those people who think they know they’re way around the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and elections and the “noboby’s taking my rights away from me” crowd a thing or two. And then this 0730102118 (2)weekend I read a letter to the editor and darned if it didn’t make all that seem as trivial as it really is.

Many Americans will be out tonight enjoying a fireworks display. Some of us will be in boats on rivers or lakes looking up at them, some will be on mountains and overlooks looking down at them, some will be in recliners watching them in living color on big screen TVs, and some in bleachers or on park lawns watching them across the way. And we’ll truly enjoy them.

At some point, we’ll make our ways home and many of the many will want to continue the celebration and will pull out our home stashes of fireworks, the kind made by the company the letter writer works for. And that’s where his letter comes in. If I may quote from it:

As the Independence Day holiday approaches, Phantom Fireworks would like to remind its customers, friends and all those who use consumer fireworks to be mindful of the fact that some veterans can be startled and upset by the noise of fireworks.

Chelsey Zoldan, a licensed clinical mental health counselor and special consultant to Phantom Fireworks, advises that there is the potential for some veterans to be reminded of combat situations when they hear the loud sounds of gunfire and fireworks. Combat veteran Henry Jiminez, on a broadcast news piece aired on KABB-TV in San Antonio, Texas, indicated he found the unexpected blasts to be the worst. … Zoldan indicated that unexpected fireworks booms can cause some veterans increased anxiety that could be difficult and challenging for them. …

The bottom line is that giving veterans a heads up that you will be lighting fireworks seems to be the most helpful. Vets aren’t necessarily scared of or by the noises but the unexpected can trigger unwanted symptoms and distress. Please show courtesy to those military veterans who served so your freedoms could be protected.

William Weimer Youngstown, Ohio
The writer is vice president of Phantom Fireworks.

From: The Tribune Review, Pittsburgh Edition, Trib Total Media, Inc., July 1, 2016 (A7).

(Read the whole letter here.)

So let the air be filled with the colors and sounds of these rockets of joy as reminders of the rights that we have to celebrate as we wish. But remember also how we got and keep those rights.

Happy Independence Day!

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Rockets Glaring Red

Michael Leave a comment

It would be too easy to write up a quick post on the Fourth of July and what it means to us.  Instead, here’s a quick post on what it could have meant to us.  Actually there were two big holidays this year that fall into this “could have been” category:  Independence Day and yes, Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day is a big deal around here, “here” being the very tight confines of our residences and work places and mostly only when we are there.  Somebody has to keep up a tradition.  Type “Groundhog Day” into our search box and see how many posts will pop up.  It’s so special that it’s the only topic that hosts our only post of a photograph.

What made it very special this year is that it fell on a weekend.  Legitimately that could have meant a trip to the rascal’s lair so we could have seen for ourselves how this ball of fur became the world’s greatest meteorologist.  True, you need a good 3 or 4 year advance plan to get a hotel room but a slightly worn, rented RV could have done the job.   But He’s health just wasn’t going to cooperate and it was a plan better not even brought up.

And now, it the same year, the Fourth of July sits on Friday just begging to be the start of a terrific three day weekend.  Where we live is a pretty good place for fireworks.  Some of the best are put on several times a year within a handful of miles from either of our houses.   But it is the Fourth of July.  No matter how good the ones in our own backyards may be, doesn’t the thought of seeing the display at our nation’s birthplace in Philadelphia or exploding over the same Fort McHenry that Francis Scott Key kept in sight before writing the words for the Star Spangled Banner make you want to check hotel reservations (or RV rental agreements)?  But again, no good cooperation from that package of skin and bones that he keeps dragging around every day.

Strangely, the two holidays aren’t that dissimilar.  It’s because of the actions taken on the Fourth of July some 238 years ago that we can make fools of ourselves on the Second of February.  The cynic in all of us is going to raise its ugly head and ask if that’s the only thing we can relate freedom to, some silly fur-lined frenzy.  Actually, no, it’s not.

We’re quite thankful for the freedoms we have and for those who continue to work to keep them for us.  In fact, He was one of those for some years some years ago doing just that.  So maybe that’s why when we talk about what freedom means to us we’re willing to take a few liberties with our liberties.  Be as serious as you want this weekend and be mindful that freedom doesn’t come easy.  Be as thankful as you can be for those who aren’t going to get to see the artificial displays that we’ll Ooh and Ahh over. But if you really want to thank those who are doing the hard work so you can enjoy the rockets’ multicolor displays, do something special with it.

Maybe make plans to go visit your favorite rodent or your favorite spot on the beach.  And go ahead and selfishly enjoy them.  That’s what they are there for.  The ones making sure they are won’t mind.

We think that because of the cycle of leap years between now and then that Groundhog Day and Independence Day will both be on weekends again in a mere five years.  Maybe if we start planning now…  Hmm.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?