I remember as a youngster, I always looked forward to the Fourth of July. Mostly because of all the firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles and any other legal munitions and explosives I could talk my dad into buying for me that day. (By the way, chrysanthemum petals make a great, colorful "floating" display when a firecracker goes off on top of the flower. Mom didn't like it too well, though.) When I was a youngster, I really didn't appreciate, or really pay much attention to, the real meaning and historical significance of the day. I think it was during the time leading up to the Bicentennial in 1976 that I really began to fully appreciate what the day really meant.
As I have seen the events of the past few weeks, I'm reminded of something Ben Franklin was thought to have said when a woman asked him what kind of government they had created (after ratifying the Constitution). His response was, "A republic, if you can keep it."
Lately, it seems that there are forces at work to tear away at the very fabric of our republic. Not from some external force, but from within. Legitimate protests that have taken place in an attempt to address issues that many feel are legitimate issues (the legitimacy of those issues of "systemic racism" can be debated, but I won't enter into that debate here) have been hijacked by thugs and criminals who seem to want nothing more than to destroy things and score a stolen pair of sneakers. Many of these same "protesters" cry out for an end to law enforcement, seemingly in order to allow for those who want to steal and destroy to be able to do so with impunity. There are those who will quickly brand someone who dares to utter something with which they disagree as a "racist," with no evidence regarding the person's character to substantiate such claims. This was done in our own community recently when a local elected official was falsely accused of being a "racist" over a post on social media (a post that one would have to stretch pretty far to honestly consider "racist"). So much for "freedom of speech," I suppose.
We need to have a new "Independence Day." I think it must begin inside each and every one of us. We must declare independence from the scourge of racism, especially in our own hearts. Only when we begin to see and treat each other "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" will we finally be free of the burden of racism. Not by saying one life matters anymore than any other life, but by saying, and truly believing that life itself matters. We must declare independence from the "mob rule" that has gripped cities like Seattle and New York City. We must declare independence from the notion of "us" vs. "them" on many issues, be it between police and the public or between political parties. As challenging as these times may seem, I don't think this is the worst that we have ever faced. We, as a nation, can survive this challenge, but it will take commitment from each one of us. As Abraham Lincoln eloquently said on the grounds of the Gettysburg battlefield over 150 years ago when the nation was under another time of civil unrest:
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—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.