The Fourth of July has been my favorite day of the year for as long as I can remember and for the first time in my life, I can say this has been the most anticlimactic lead up to the Fourth of July. EVER. No firework stands on every corner, no American flags waving in the summer sun, no decorations covering the town, and little if any Americanism anywhere or from anyone.
While I have been contemplating this these past few days of why I wasn’t seeing the aforementioned or why I was feeling impassive about the pending day. I have realized that I too wasn’t feeling very Patriotic for the day that celebrates our country and our freedom. I really had to be honest with myself as to why I was feeling this way and it came down to the fact that for the first time I am not proud of our country. Not our US Government, our state leadership, the constant rise of issues that seem to divide us more and more each day, bringing children into adult matters, or how we represent ourselves and or are perceived as a country. As of late it feels more like a disgrace or embarrassment to be an American. I can just imagine the sympathy other countries have for us and how they must pity us when they see the mess of what our country is. How has this come to be?
When women cannot be just women. When did being a biological Women become the problem and feels like we are slowly being erased? We matter just as much as every other “gender” that seems to spring up daily. Why are we not allowed to make decisions about our own bodies, PRO CHOICE all day every day! Why are we unable to get the treatment we need as we enter menopause, but children can make that decision for themselves now? When I was 17 and an F in bra size do you know how hard my mom fought for me to have surgery? How many doctors I saw? The endless discussions on the possibility of not breast feeding. What I had to do to make sure I understood what I was being told. But now at 41 I can barely get HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). But here ya go kids have at it chose whatever you want?? What about every male of any race being subject to being the “bad guy” to kids getting gunned down monthly, weekly, daily in schools and other events. To daily shootings that we no longer bat an eye at because that’s normal? How did we go from Duck & Cover drills for the fear of an atomic attack to tornado drills, to fire alarm drills, to Active Shooter drills and barricading into classrooms. Which is the reality not the fear or the potential of a Nuclear Attack of the 50’s & 60’s. We are no longer living in a world of fear or possibility, we are living in the reality of just another day. How is that fair to parents, teachers, and again the kids, to all of us humans?? The ravel warnings in place from other countries warning travelers not to travel to America due to gun violence. Some “American Dream” we are living..
Three years ago, I wrote about our history being in peril of being at risk of being erased. I find that becoming a reality every day. We shouldn’t be moving backwards; but here we are in a downward spiral.
How have gone so far from what we were and could be to now just being and trying to survive? We (middle-and lower-class Americans) can barely afford to live in this economy, we hope that we aren’t gunned down daily, we hope that we will survive to see the end of our lifetime, we hope that kids get to be kids, we hope that we are able to get health care and put food on the table for our families. We hope….just as I assume our founding Fathers did when they signed the Declaration of Independence…for a better life.
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
-United States Declaration of Independence
So yes, I find myself torn as to celebrate what I know we have had and what we could, if not for the past few years, and what is so quickly being taken away from us and our history and those desperately trying to erase the past. I fear that if I don’t celebrate now, I might never get the chance because I truly worry for our freedom and liberty.
So, bring on the fireworks, if you can find them and celebrate at least one more day of freedom and being alive. Maybe one day we will all once again celebrate like we used to as proud citizens of the US of A.
Thanks for liking a comment I made on a post from Jenn Mann. I looked at your substack and appreciated this essay of yours. I have similar thoughts. Please read my post: https://open.substack.com/pub/drrhumondtonique/p/who-are-the-ugly-americans?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=norcd
I hate to be embarrassed to be an American! Anyway, I subscribed to your substack. Keep writing.
Amen!!!!