{"id":2050,"date":"2012-07-04T07:46:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T14:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threeadventure.com\/hootnannie\/2012\/07\/04\/july-4th-what-does-really-mean-you\/"},"modified":"2012-07-04T07:46:37","modified_gmt":"2012-07-04T14:46:37","slug":"july-4th-what-does-really-mean-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threeadventure.com\/hootnannie\/2012\/07\/04\/july-4th-what-does-really-mean-you\/","title":{"rendered":"July 4th: What Does it Really Mean to YOU?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I understand fully that July 4<sup>th<\/sup> is a holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776\u2026having been born in 1976 (bicentennial baby) and having the middle name of Liberty, I can\u2019t get too far without knowing some of the magical stuff about this country. The issue is that I\u2019m a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the Fourth of July in this era.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>What Does July 4th Really Mean?<\/h3>\n<p>If we chose to be honest with ourselves, July 4th is all about a day off from work (for many people), beer, booze, grilling, the lake, possibly a boat, and fireworks. The Dr. Jekyll side of me says this is all bullshit and we\u2019re just further proving that we are entitled Americans that are only out for our own well being. However, the Mr. Hyde side of me think s that this is okay, we live in this amazingly diverse, compassionate (proof is when natural disasters happen, look how much Americans jump to help), and beautiful country\u2026why shouldn\u2019t we be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor?<\/p>\n<p>Well, to add to all this,\u00a0I am utterly disappointed in our political system and our political parties. I\u2019m intensely angry that our system of education is crumbling and seemingly nothing is being done about it. I\u2019m frustrated with so many things but I don\u2019t want to get into all that right now. The point is this, beyond those frustrations I still believe in the greatness of this country\u2026the IDEA of this country\u2026the state of mind. I tear up when the Star Spangled Banner plays or when I see one of those \u201csoldier home from war\u201d stories\u2026I\u2019m proud of the flag and even though I am not a religious person, I like saying \u201cunder God\u201d and seeing \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on our money.<\/p>\n<p>This is an amazing place\u2026but I think most of us have forgotten the point, the purpose, the patriotism. I think we need to remember how we felt right after 9\/11. We need to remember how we feel when we see those happy stories about soldiers coming home and surprising their kids in school\u2026and more importantly how we feel when we see flag draped coffins arriving back on American soil.<\/p>\n<p>People have died for the luxuries we enjoy. Others keep putting their lives on the line for us to continue having those luxuries. There are men and women that do REAL good every single day they wake up\u2026they work in hospitals, police departments, fire departments, schools, charities, and communities all over this country. This is what America is about. I do not think that July 4th should be a somber day in any way\u2026but when we\u2019re eating our way toward heart burn and drinking our way toward a Thursday morning hangover\u2026I think we should be thinking about how fortunate we are and how We The People should come together to start solving the problems we\u2019re in rather than simply ignoring it, or bickering and finger pointing.<\/p>\n<p>I know we can\u2019t get rid of complaining\u2026I do it daily; but we really need to work toward being more constructive. So the next time we\u2019re irritated that Facebook made a change or that a bird just crapped on the newly washed car\u2026get over it.<\/p>\n<p>Happy 4th of July!<\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px;height: 15px\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/?px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: none;float: right\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_a.png?x-id=19d98632-ae68-4cf3-84f0-a385ba0e7cea\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I understand fully that July 4th is a holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776\u2026having been born in 1976&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[190,260,281,376,468,475,510,512],"class_list":["post-2050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-lifestyle","tag-facebook","tag-independence-day","tag-july","tag-people","tag-star-spangled-banner","tag-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-declaration-of-independence","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>July 4th: What Does it Really Mean to YOU?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July 4th is a day of celebration, partying, and fun. 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