Happy Treason Day – the first meme that caught my attention in the news feed today. As many new sources pointed out this July 4th will be unlike any other Celebration anyone else can remember. When I was quite young July 4th meant spending the afternoon at a barbecue at grandmother’s house followed by watching the fireworks from her front lawn. Now, as then, I had the opportunity to watch fireworks on my own front lawn…but only because impromptu stealth fireworks shows broke out all over town. Mind you this wasn’t a case of someone who went to the neighboring state to by buckets of firecrackers and bottle rockets. No, these were professional grade fireworks leading me to believe the city had gone the same route as Macy’s in New York: Short five minute displays spread out throughout the town to prevent crowds gathering.
As I write this the sound of short fireworks displays echo from different parts of the city. Like many others such as myself, family is where you find it; and I found it in the form of two close friends. At my doctor’s suggestion, we all met in a park, wearing masks, and sat sufficiently distant from one another for safety. Each of us brought our own lunch. Music was furnished by the list of patriotic musicians on my telephone: B.B. King, Z.Z. Top and Aerosmith.
So this year there were no parades, no half hour long fireworks displays, no lunch out at our favorite restaurant. But there was one thing and that is gratitude. I am grateful that I and my friends are all alive and healthy when others around us are not so fortunate. I am grateful to have a profession I can work at from home when others around us are not so fortunate. Still, despite having ancestors who fought in wars past, and being a veteran myself, I can’t help pause as I consider the state of the country at the moment. I look at the second meme above and chuckle a bit to myself and wonder if it is too late to get the queen to take us all back.
I asked Her Maj. She said “One does not forget, one does not forgive.”
Pip pip from Blighty!