Today, Americans observe the most intensely patriotic of the United States’ national holidays. July 4th celebrates the independence of the nation and it honors the individual freedom that is the bedrock of our democracy. Americans’ celebration of the 4th is almost always exuberant, but it is often touched with the understanding that such joy should be tempered by an appreciation of those whose deeds and lives were and are central to the nation’s independence. That’s especially so this year.
To be sure, today’s holiday will be marked in the same way that it has traditionally be celebrated. There will be picnics and parties, ball games and excursions to mountains and to the shore. There will be parades and fireworks. Readings of the Declaration of Independence will be offered in many places and this being an election year, political speeches will abound. That’s typical for the holiday.
There are many Americans, though, who will be unable to join the celebrations. Some are in the nation’s service far from home. Others are resident in the United States, but their circumstances — often through no fault of their own, — are such that any holiday festivity is beyond their means. Both groups should be in our thoughts and prayers, and their service and their plight, respectively, should be remembered today.
The men and women in the U.S.. military in Afghanistan and numerous other places around the globe willingly and repeatedly risk their lives for the freedoms that today’s holiday celebrates. Their sacrifices are immense, as are those of the families that await their return.
Other Americans are hard-pressed to celebrate the holiday at all. Many can’t find work. Many who do have jobs still struggle to feed, house and clothe their families on their earnings. Americans from all walks of life increasingly find it difficult to provide adequate health care and education to those they love. Political partisanship and the economic disparities that flow from it make their participation in the American dream difficult if not impossible at this juncture in history.