Even though we aren’t completely out of the COVID woods, this 4th of July promises to be a true celebration of what maybe feels like it might possibly be a return to something sort of resembling what may pass as normal. People will be traveling, fireworks will be firing, hamburgers and hot dogs sizzling and this amazing county will celebrate its 245th birthday.
In the history of the world, that makes the US of A pretty young, comparatively. China has been around for 5000 years, Japan is 15 million years old, Ethiopia 5 million, Portugal is a spry 900. In “country years” America is the equivalent of a teenager; still figuring it out, still pushing boundaries, still going through that awkward phase and still full of promise and possibility for the future.
She’s exasperating and lovely, makes us perplexed and proud, frustrated and full of hope. She brings out the best in us and the worst in us, just like that tween who won’t get off her phone for five minutes to have a normal conversation with her mother.
And we will celebrate her 245th because we love her; we will light sparklers and eat watermelon and celebrate another year of freedom, another year of struggle, another year of victory, another year of reflection, another year of figuring it out, another year of democracy. Happy 4th!
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