Browsing through the clearance section at Hobby Lobby today, I rsn across this …
“Robert!” I shrieked across several aisles where he was searching for dragonfly figurines in the garden gnome section (Don’t get me started). “Quick! Please! Come take my picture!”
Used to my impromptu requests, HR fairly quickly found me, put down his two garden figurines (which looked more like weird birds than dragonflies to me) and took this photo.
I love the Profound Truth of Twain’s Patriotic Proclamation!
In solidarity with many Americans, I am having a great deal of trouble supporting the current administration’s Dangerous Dismantling of Democracy.
And I wholeheartedly believe that we should and must make our dissatisfaction known.
Walking into our kitchen when we got home, I glanced at the fridge and thought to myself, “Yes, Mark Twain, I know you were being humorous, but you are also so very correct!”
And I make that … Refrigerated Proclamation as a Patriot of my Country, the United States of America.
It is with divided sentiments that I awake early this 2025 Fourth of July and set the table for our little Independence Day breakfast.
Last evening Robert and I went over to daughter Amy’s for a family cookout and to watch incredible day-early fireworks from her lovely Moon River-facing balcony.
Glorious Beauty.
But as I stood behind my husband Robert and my ex-wife Donna, as they leaned on the railing toward the patriotic display …
… and as I listened to Lee Greenwood iconically singing from my son-in-law‘s speakers:
… I wondered, in the midst of the firework’s bangs, crackles, whistles and sizzles, if Lee’s words still ring true. Does the flag still stand for freedom under the current fascist regime? And if so, freedom for whom? For me as a married gay man? For my daughters and granddaughters to have autonomy over their own bodies? For my trans friends to live without threats of discrimination or even murder? Etc. Etc.
But Lee would have nothing of that viewpoint, as he continued to sing …
That absolute “knowing” of freedom in the USA has faded somewhat for me.
————————————————
I love yesteryear Kate Smith’s rendition of “God bless America,”
This morning, her phrase “through the NIGHT” emanates new meaning for me. For we are living/trying to live through a Darkened Night Phase of our beloved country, with democracy under attack from within by our own leaders. A democracy which my husband Robert spent nearly 30 years in the Army trying to defend. A democracy which many of his comrades gave their lives to defend.
So why do I display the flag this Independence Day morn?
And why do I still feel a measure of pride as I take my morning walk and see all of this in my Savannah neighborhood?
Because I hope and believe that God (or whatever force you believe is greater than evil) Will Bless the True America and grant us a new Dawn of Democracy after this Darkness.
I especially like this darkened black and white version of Kate Smith’s “God bless America.”
————————————————
Now that it has brightened up a bit, I’m going to sit down with HR (Hubby Robert) for breakfast.
I always have. It is so wonderful for our nation to have a special day set aside for GRATITUDE.
Except …
What we often forget (or at least try to forget) (or refuse to even believe) is that the traditional First Thanksgiving Day taught in grade school and fixed in our individual and national consciousness is a Disney-fied mythology.
Here’s a terrifically sobering post from a wonderful blog, “Esperational.” The You Tube video is eye- (and heart-) opening. Please take a moment to read the short post and watch the short video.
************
It has been my tradition on Thanksgiving to honor the other side of the story. For members of the first nations of this country this is a day of …
A blog category examining the difficult yet enlightening truth found in The 1619 Project.
“In 2020, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported on the racial implications of Stand Your Ground laws: the criminal justice system is ten times more likely to rule a homicide justifiable if the shooter is white and the victim is black than the other way around. In fact, the report notes that when a white person kills an African American, it is 281 percent more likely to be ruled a ‘justifiable homicide’ than a white-on-white killing.” (Full documentation on page 266)
NealEnJoy 