HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Well, the party is over. The fireworks are now just a pile of burnt rubble. Our pets are slowly coming out of hiding.  The bodies of dead animals have been grilled and eaten but some potato salad may still be in the back of the fridge.  Television stations have returned to their usual lame programming.  We take down the flags we so proudly placed on our front lawns and consider when to get out the mower.  We’re not being shallow.  We celebrated America’s birthday with enthusiasm and pride but, life goes on just like our country.

            For some, birthdays represent just another trip this planet has travelled around the sun since their birth.  Others look upon them as a sign of age and decline.  Some birthdays are regarded as life’s milestones.  Remember when you added a second digit to your age or became a teen?  The number twenty-one became magic!  Fifty took on significance when you realized that was halfway to one-hundred!!!  One hundred marked a celebration!

                Human lives seen short compared to some countries.  Iran and Egypt date back since before 3000 BC, as well as India and Mexico.  Many countries have been around well over a thousand years and are still major movers and shakers.  Here we are, the United States of America, making a huge deal of celebrating our two-hundred and fiftieth birthday!  How brash and immature! 

                America has, for its rather short time in existence, made a name for itself as a country populated with an exceedingly diverse and opinionated people.  We don’t seem to care what others think of us, we make a stand and go forward.  Some may remember the famous lines of Admiral David Farragut in 1864 during the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, when he gave the order, “Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead!”   That pretty much sums up the American spirit.  

                In terms of age, our country is experiencing its teenage years, full of experimentation and discovery.  We learn through our mistakes and hopefully try to do better.  We don’t like to be pushed and if we are, we push back.  We have our moments of utter stupidity and our moments of sheer genius. We can’t all live together and we can’t live without each other. 

                We celebrated this important day because of the guts and bravery and sheer determination of those who came before us.  They saw what this country could become and were willing to stake their lives on its citizens and future citizens to keep their dream alive. 

                America may not be the oldest country or the most genteel.  We may be a bit reckless at times and may not show proper respect to our elders but, we sure know how to throw a hell of a great Birthday party!!!  Just imagine what we can accomplish in the next 250 years!  Let's work to make it happen.

Sharon