The fourth isn’t always about independence

Diane has some thoughts, good and bad, on this admittedly weird Fourt Of July

I’ve celebrated 67 Independence Days during my lifetime. I don’t remember the early ones, but my earliest memories are not good. My father loved celebrating, and we always had neighbors and barbecues, pool parties and some kind of fireworks. As a very young child I had issues with my ears and the fireworks sounded like gunfire. It was actually painful, and I remember some of those early years sitting in the living room on the couch with my ears covered by my small hands, my eyes closed tightly, just waiting for it all to be over.

On this, my 68th independence Day, I fear that I’m going to feel very much like that young child. Sitting in my home, my eyes closed tightly, waiting for it all to be over. My first thought was that I just wouldn’t celebrate this year. My political opinions shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me.  In the current state of our country,  where I feel that my rights as well as the rights of many of my neighbors and friends are being trampled on, I am not feeling very celebratory.

I was, however, reminded about other celebrations from my past. Those that were filled with a lot more hope and a sense of duty and obligation. I have read many things lately saying that my particular generation don’t  identify as baby boomers. Born a little too late to have been influenced by the 60s we were instead raised by the influence of the greatest generation: those who believed that hard work, dedication and loyalty were the foundation of a good life. Those of us who grew up in the 70’s found out soon enough that those promises were never going to come to fruition. We all graduated with debt and jobs that never materialized, with the promise of pensions that faded to nothing over the years.

But those of us who grew up in the 70s were also heavily influenced by a sense of giving and community that was an outreach of our early years. Nothing embodies that more for me than the song The impossible dream from Man of La Mancha. I was reminded of this recently and watched an old video that was made during Obama‘s administration in which Cynthia Erivo sang this song to an audience of my generation. Everyone in the audience was mouthing the words with her- everyone from the president’s family to Aretha Franklin. And I realized then that it was because that song in particular was something that influenced us at a very core level.

Ever since I was in high school I felt that my calling in life was to be of service. It was what I planned to do as a career. It was something I did during all of my various volunteer activities. It was never anything that I felt deserved any kind of special recognition because it was something that was ingrained in me from a young age. We are all we have, and we should always have a hand out to those who need it.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause

And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
Music: Mitch Leigh
Lyrics: Joe Darion

President Kennedy, flawed man though he was, called us to a higher calling. Martin Luther King Jr., flawed man that he was, called us to a higher calling. President Obama echoed those callings. Those of us who were raised during that time know that those principles and values stayed with us.

So I will not be celebrating independence this year. There are too many of us for whom independence has been ripped away. What I will do is hold onto the belief that there are still many people out there who are willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.