Independence, Freedom, American
For 10 years Karen Mullaney and I celebrated our nation's birthday together with our kids. Usually Dan and Jimbo were working so we would go to Grandpa Mullaney's on Mellen St. Needham for breakfast, then the parade and flea market. It was a tradition ...we stopped doing after Grandpa sold his house...our last 4th of July in Massachusetts we went to Susie and Grandpa's for dinner followed by the Needham fireworks with Karen, Jimbo, Billy, Kelly and all the kids. It was good to be with them again on the fourth not knowing it would be perhaps our last in MA.....Last year we were on Virginia Beach, it was very patriotic...............this year we went to Easton which is one of the 8 best small towns in USA. We were thinking small town America, small fireworks NOT! It was one of the best fireworks we have ever witnessed. The grand finale last 20 minutes. We went in the evening, there was live music with the Vogues (www.vogues.com) they played oldies mostly from the 50's, 60's and 70's (which my kids remind me these are the old oldies). They were excellent but there final song was from the 21st century, with God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. Grace turned to me and said, this is the only country song I like....we started singing together and with many others we stood up to sing. This song was written to remember those who died on September 11, 2001 and those who would go on to fight in the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and now we can also remember all those who gave there lives from the Revolutionary War onward....Grace and I locked arms singing this song....the police didn't stop us, in fact if you looked closely you could see the tear glissoning in his eye in the twilight as he remembered those NYC police officers who died that day in fact, he was singing along with us.
Grace and I listened to focus on the family yesterday where they were talking about Americans who have failed to registered to vote and even some of those who are registered fail to vote and that is to our societies detriment. Some people wanting to 'delete' God from the Pledge of allegiance....whether we like it or not our country was founded by majority of God reliant men. Who knew that without the hand of Providence, they were doomed to remain colonists under British rule.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." AND "It must be felt that there is no security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence."
JOHN ADAMS, 1798

We not only have the right but also the responsibility to participate in the process of our representative government. It is our failure to act that has gotten us where we are today. The program talked about the failure of the churches and their pastors to encourage us to be salt and light in this world. (by the way, I am a registered voter in FL and I will be voting via an absentee ballot)
I will not forget this fourth of July in smalltown America 2004. Nor will I forget that we are free to celebrate being America, anywhere in the USA. Traveling with our children, meeting watermen and eating blue crab on the Easternshore of Maryland. We are living in unsettling times and we are appreciating the freedom we still have.....