How do those of us who are appalled by the dangerous and disheartening directions our country seems to be heading celebrate the Fourth of July…Independence Day?
Someone who shares my political apprehensions said to me last night, “It’s hard to celebrate the Fourth with what’s going on.” I think I have been feeling the same way recently, but her speaking those words jolted me into analyzing my feelings.
I realized that since last November I have been thinking a great deal about what it means to me to be an American, about what patriotism means to me, and have been expressing my patriotism in statements of resistance to current political trends and follies. In a way, it is easier to celebrate the Fourth of July when what today means to me as an American is under attack.
What does being an American mean to me? Start with freedom and liberty . . . the freedom and liberty afforded each individual as Americans together. It’s not just MY freedom and liberty that matter to me, but the freedom and liberty we all are promised. So, to be an American is to be one who is as passionate about the freedom others enjoy as about his or her own.
Justice…justice for me, justice for you, justice for each one. “Equal justice under law,” expresses the American ideal of justice. I deserve justice no more than does anyone else.
Opportunity and responsibility go hand-in-hand with freedom and justice. (That’s a lot of hands!) I have had many opportunities in my life, and I’ve carried out at least some of my responsibilities. Every American is deserving of opportunities no less than those afforded to me, and every American should be free to assume all the responsibility she or he can for living in our society.
The point I am trying to make is that being an American is not just about me, nor is it just about people like me. It is about all of us together. There are basics we all should be able to enjoy even as we fuss and fume with one another about how as many of us as possible might achieve them.
Unfortunately, complex and intertwined economic, cultural, religious, and political forces are converging in our time to isolate us from one another. They are stoking fear that each of us can only get what we think we want if we deny others what they need, as if there is not enough America to go around. We harden our hearts and minds to let no outsiders into our circle, and America–first the ideal and then the reality–fragments.
Last week we were able to visit Independence Hall, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Not a one of those has any meaning to me as an individual unless it speaks to and of the experiences and aspirations of us all. They speak of big hopes and of bold dreams for today and far into the future.
We also visited the 9/11 Museum and Memorial. It, too, is about us all. It tells a horrible story, but also points to how we face and overcome adversity and terror. We face and overcome them together, by birth or adoption sons and daughters together of what Independence Hall, Lady Liberty, and Ellis Island represent.
The American patriot never stops believing there is more than enough America to go around. Happy Fourth of July, all 325,000,000+ of us!
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