Fireworks and Independence

Spending the night of July 3rd at my parish’s picnic in preparation for the fireworks that night, Rose reminded me that in our 6.5 years together, I have never taken her to the fireworks. We saw a few minutes one year and caught others from afar, but never did we set out to sit through them.

This of course is my fault. I’m not a big fan of fireworks. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which are financial and environmental. A new thing occurred to me this year: I don’t like Independence Day because we never seem to celebrate independence and our struggle to find it on that day. With all of our emphasis on military interactions, it comes off as Memorial Day part 2. With our emphasis on freedom (which inevitably goes back to the old military (freedom won) and current military (freedom ‘protected’). Even attempts to re-imagine the Revolution inevitably turn to the war, not the Declaration of Independence—the moment memorialized with this very holiday.

Independence Day (4th of July) is a day to recognize heroism and courage—not the mortal kind of warfare, but the truly horrifying kind of civil and social interaction. The kind that sends people to prisons, to torture, to public humiliations, to lynchings, to mob response. Facing literal enemy bullets is not the same courage and bravery shown by those facing figurative bullets and barbs. Independence Day is about standing up against an oppressive government that doesn’t represent its people, but the wealthy beneficiaries. It is declaring both individual and corporate freedom. It is about the birth of democracy in the Western hemisphere. It is the interpretation of the oldest elements of Western Civilization to encourage freedom and justice for all people.

I still don’t mind fireworks, really. They seem to make people happy, and sometimes, they make me happy. But Independence Day isn’t a day for soldiers and warriors; it’s a day for statespersons, leaders, and visionaries; the truly heroic people that we so often demonize. Supporting the soldiers in a so-called time of war is easy; supporting the visionary ahead of popular curve takes true bravery.