Independence Day

It's Independence Day again, and I'm doing my usual thing: watching the festivities - and the solemnities - on the Boston Esplanade from my living room. Earlier in the evening I wrote a letter to my 3 year-old son, which I do often; but always, always on Independence Day.

Part of this year's writing went thus:

Something about the 4th of July is really important to me, although I'm not a very patriotic person outwardly. I don't talk about how great America is all the time, and there are plenty of things about our country that I criticize. But there really is no place I'd rather be; even with its lumps, America is an outstanding nation. She is not a light to all nations in certain respects - but the concept and even practice of freedom here is very strong, and that isn't true everywhere. It is, perhaps, the thing we value most. It certainly seems to be something God values highly, because he gave to us, His creation, the ability to reason and make choices for ourselves. The difficulty for us lies in making GOOD choices. I hope that I have been, am, and will be a mom who helps you learn how to make good choices.

Here is what we've done today so far: slept late, put on new clothes (you) and fun clothes (mom) and driven about 25 miles to Keri's house near the beach. There we ate everything we wanted - muffins, waffles, cookies, juice, fruit - and socialized with over 20 people just hanging out and having fun. We played with bubbles, and went to the beach with sunscreen all over us; we built sand castles and ran in the waves. When we came home much later we put our swimsuits on again and went to the pool; it was warm (too warm for me) and clean and lots of people were there playing and enjoying the day.

Everything we have done today is what makes our country great. We are blessed to be able to do all these things, and more, because we live in a land like America. We could sleep late because we were comfortable - lots of people don't have a comfortable bed and a house to sleep in; lots of people have to get up early to work too. We have enough money to buy you new clothes, and we live in a country that allows us to dress ourselves pretty much however we want, expressing our personalities. There was an abundance of food, and so many people in the world are hungry - there are poor and hungry people in America, too, but not so many as in other parts of the world, and our country has ways of trying to help them. We could drive all the way to Keri's because we have a car, which most of the world's people do not. We had clean oceans and clean water in the pool because America takes care of its water. I'm sitting here at a computer writing to you on a computer given to me by MIT, where I work - I have a good job that pays me enough to buy the things we need, and gives me extra benefits like this machine and my cell phone. I have a good job because I had a good education - and education is free to every citizen of America. Every single boy and girl goes to school here, and can learn anything they want to learn. We have public libraries where we can read any book published - no one can tell us what we can and can't read or learn.

My favorite part of Boston's celebration is the reading of the Gettysburg address. I usually stand for the whole thing. At the moment the speaker ends with "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth" the Pops swing into Barber's indescribably moving Adagio for Strings. Every year I end up bawling like a baby, and this year was no exception. There was no need for a slide show of historic events; my mind created them all. I saw two towers falling, the Pentagon in flames, the Vietnam memorial in Washington, the faces of Veterans I'm privileged to know, the image of choppers over verdant jungles, young men weeping over fallen friends, the horror of that Normandy beach, the field of crosses and the vast expanse of Arlington Cemetery, our young men at the beginning of the last century in that first Great War, old lithographs of soldiers blue and gray, blood running in the fields of the South, and the austere faces of our country's founders; a page of signatures on our Declaration of Independence.

My son fell asleep early tonight, the natural result of today's exertions and excitement. But we saw the tops of some town fireworks last night from our window. Every time we saw the "dots of light," as he called them, he shouted "Happy Birthday, America!" As I watch all those pinpricks of light above the Charles River in Boston tonight, I cannot guess how many tiny flames illumine the sky so brightly and briefly, and then fade. But I like to think that each one is a testimony to all our honored dead, to all their loved ones and all they left behind. Which is us, really - us, the great We of America; yes, in all our flaws but in our freedom too, our freedom to live and to choose. Perhaps we have not yet achieved FDR's "Four Freedoms" - Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, and Freedom from Fear. We have feared this year, but our courage shines all the more brightly for it; for courage is not measured in deeds amidst peace and harmony, but in the face of fear, despair, and pain. And we have stood. Together. Amen!

Leigh Deacon 2002