It is the 4th of July. Normally I fly an American flag that had belonged to my father, in part to honor him as much as to celebrate our country. Never one to flaunt his patriotism–he had shown it well enough serving six years in the Navy in World War II–he proudly displayed the flag on appropriate days: Memorial Day and the rest, certainly on the 4th of July. He was quiet in his pride at being an American and lived out his life as a good citizen. He was a Civil Defense volunteer in the 50s, because folks in the area came and asked him, and he thought it was the right thing to do. My dad was a natural leader who never sought be. He saw what needed to be done and did it. He was the best kind of American: responsible, caring, present.
This country has turned down a dark path. Many of us intend to go on caring and to resist the hatred and hateful policies that surround us, and, be assured, affect us ALL.
I’m not sure what my father would do. He has been gone for over forty years and could not possibly have foreseen these frightening dark days that have arisen from within, not from an outside enemy. I hope he would not mind that today I do not fly the flag. Instead I join a peaceful group in community to celebrate our freedom to which we cling tenaciously and to commemorate those flawed men who got it all started in 1776. My father fought for my right to do so.
By the way, here are my dad’s medals attesting to his service. He did not care about them, but my mother nonetheless displayed them in a back room in our house, and they ultimately came to me. I show them proudly.
So, freely and without irony, happy birthday to the United States of America, I fervently wish we have many more as the free and democratic nation we ever strive to be.
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
“America the Beautiful” – Katherine Lee Bates