Member-only story
What Does July 4th Even Mean Anymore? What’s to Celebrate?!
How many people actually FEEL as July 4th is something to be celebrated anymore? Am I alone in this sentiment? I don’t think so, according to various friends of mine who decided to forego all the American “fun.”
Having said that though, last night I did take some pictures of the fireworks as where I currently live, I have a perfect view of them right outside my kitchen windows. I did this as a way to perhaps “commemorate” the fact that, with good fortune, by this time next year, I will be living in another country. Hence, my last 4th of July in America, in all likelihood really.
It’s very sad to me, because I can remember a time when celebrating the 4th of July was a time of excitement and fun; something to look forward to and plan for. Maybe part of it is just with age, I no longer enjoy being in large crowds as I once did; but I also think it’s more than this, too, also.
For example, for a brief period of time, I was feeling a bit of a strange foreboding as in: “Hmm, gosh, it feels like the quiet before the storm with regards to there being no mass shootings” and then, of course, almost like a strange surreal kind of clockwork (think Dali’s melting watch, for example) there were shootings in Texas and Philadelphia. BANG.