Observing Independence Day...or Thursday
Nothing about myeloma today. The next article will be posted on Sunday morning.
It’s July 4, the national holiday celebrating the birth of the United States of America, which is now all of 248 years old. Outside of the United States, it’s Thursday.
This is a strange time in America. Fear of the future seems to be more dominant than celebrating the founding of the nation.
We have seemingly lost the capacity to laugh at ourselves, as individuals and as Americans.
I often commemorate the Fourth by listening to my vinyl copy of Stan Freberg Presents the United State of America Volume One: The Early Years, given to me years ago by a good friend. It’s a quaint, funny look at the founding of the nation.
Another of my favorites is Bob & Ray’s classic sketch of an interview with an author of an American history book.
And the funniest bit on Saturday Night Live this past season was a great “reenactment” of the winter of 1776 in Valley Forge. I love it because it doesn’t shy away from controversy, making us think while we laugh.
So whether you are celebrating the Fourth in the U.S. or getting through a Thursday somewhere else in the world, let’s not forget to take ourselves a little less seriously every now and then. It’s another way of celebrating independence.
Photo: Detail, The True American (ca. 1874), Enoch Wood Perry, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York