4TH OF JULY
When I was a kid the 4th of July was a national holiday celebrated by everyone with the Stars and Stripes flying everywhere and parades and band concerts and picnics and fireworks.
But now, at least among the people I live among, we are more cautious. Fireworks have to be carefully regulated so that they don’t harm people and cause fires. No one is quite sure what putting out an American flag in your front yard signifies, it is more a symbol of what tribe you belong to than simply part of an all American celebration. There are few parades and the band concert is on TV at the National Mall.
This is my group. On our recent trip through the mid-West there were American flags everywhere. And Kimberly Avenue running along the edge of the Grove Park Inn golf course had American flags every fifty feet. Did the people who live there place the flags, or was it a neighborhood project, or was it the Grove Park Inn or was it one super patriotic person that placed the flags.
I was on my way to my son Tom’s house where his family and guests gathered for a feast of hamburgers and many kinds of salads served on red, white and blue plates. It was a family gathering and great fun but there were no fireworks and the only political discussion was trepidation about the coming election. There was little sense of celebration or reliving 1776.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 