Independence Day

I’ve always enjoyed the Fourth of July. Fireworks were a part of it, of course. For many years, my family would go hiking on the fourth, and then, driving down from the mountains, watch the fireworks shows across the LA metro area.

But this year there’s more than that.

It’s not all just about 9-11, though that’s a big part of it. That day made us think as a nation, even for a few brief instants, rather than a jockeying cluster of special interests. We were being attacked. It didn’t matter what color we were, what ethnic origin, what religion, who we’d voted for in November, what job we had, what our 401(k) looked like … we were all under attack. We the People, to coin a phrase. “We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately,” as Ben Franklin said.

And even though the unity of that day has faded from the landscape, it’s still there, in the bedrock, a reminder, a hint, a subliminal suggestion.

And, in some ways, that’s focused us more. The Pledge decision, school vouchers, privacy, security, stewardship of the environment, economic success, honesty and fraud — all of these sorts of things were being talked about before 9-11. That day put them into a context. What does this nation stand for? What are our goals, its ideals? What truths do we hold as self-evident any more? What rights do we believe in? What must we to do protect those rights? The questions all apply to each individual as much as to our collective society.

Just as the crushing weight of overseas oppression was the fire under the crucible in 1776, so the crushing weight of the 20th Century, sparked by the fiery attacks on 9-11, are the fire under a new crucible. We’re no longer wondering, “Where did we go wrong?” Instead, we’re wondering, “Where do we go from here?”

I don’t know what the answer is to that question. I have my opinions, but there are 250 million others out there, too, and part of the delicate balance of our government is respecting both the majority and the minority. There will be missteps — the Founders went down some odd roads on their way to 1789 and the Constitution — but they got through theirs, and I trust we’ll get through ours.

The signers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to their declaration, to their cause. One way or another, that’s what at stake for us, today, too, whether we “sign on” or not. Because indepedence, ultimately, is about taking responsibility for ourselves, for what we believe in, for what we do and for what we say, individually and collectively. For ourselves, and for our nation. It’s a great freedom, and a heavy burden, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt, and folding is a real and meaningful a decision as playing it out.

Happy Independence Day.