Jay GreesonHappy birthday, America.
We celebrate this glorious day - the birth of the world's greatest country long before Donald Trump put the slogan out there - with plenty of fireworks and barbecues.
Through our history, shooting fireworks - or even firearms back in the day - into the sky and trying not to burn some animal flesh over an open flame has always been viewed as a celebration.
So enjoy this Fourth, friends. Live the moment and maximize the memory. Because who knows how or through what prism future Americans will see our lives.
That thought hit me when I saw this week that sports apparel giant Nike was trying to celebrate America (i.e., sell more sneakers) with the early U.S. flag on the heel.
The shoe was called the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July. I feel certain it was overpriced.
The flag, which features 13 stars, is credited to Betsy Ross, who was a Quaker and an anti-slavery activist.
Nike, however, kiboshed the release of said sneaker because Colin Kaepernick said he was offended by the flag's reference to a time that slavery was legal in the U.S.
You remember Colin, right? The anthem-kneeling activist/former NFL quarterback who became a Nike spokesperson because Nike wanted to make sure everyone knew how supportive it is of human rights. Somehow he has attained the role as Supreme Poobah of All Things Offensive.
This would be a fine time to remind everyone of Nike's checkered history with youth labor laws and sweatshop allegations in its climb to the top of the sports apparel wars.
Nike - like too many companies more concerned about the perception of morality than actual morality - heeded Kaepernick's completely expected stance of this being the next chapter of our ongoing culture wars. And let's be honest, Kaepernick and flags have never seen eye-to-eye anyway.
This one boggles the mind. Because, on the day that is celebrated as the birth of our nation and the first version of our flag, it makes me wonder if there is any historical reference that can be made without crossing a line these days? I asked this earnestly rather than sarcastically earlier this week in my daily online column at timesfreepress.com.
Here are a few more:
» What about American history can we celebrate without fear of crossing some PC boundary?
» Is George Washington OK, or do we need to redo the $1 bill?
» What about Thomas Jefferson, who was one of the founding fathers and arguably the most important and influential architect of this great nation but reportedly had relations with slave women?
I read Wednesday the answer to the last one. The question about Jefferson - arguably America's greatest patriot and pioneer of freedom - was more rhetorical in nature, but it appears to be somewhat prophetic.
According to a Fox News story, Jefferson's hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, will no longer recognize a holiday on his birthday because Jefferson owned slaves. It will instead have a holiday called Liberation and Freedom Day on March 3.
Yes, you read that correctly. I wish I was kidding.
Was slavery wrong? Of course it was. Still is. But applying our 21st century sensibilities to what was happening almost 250 years ago won't correct or erase it. We have to live with it, learn from it.
We will celebrate July 4 and our great country today. Thomas Jefferson, one of the chief engineers of this experiment, deserves our thanks and acknowledgement that any semblance of anything remotely called Liberation and Freedom Day was birthed by Jefferson and his colleagues 243 years ago today.
Happy Fourth, everyone. Enjoy this one. Who knows what it may get changed to this time next year.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.