Independence Day
Today, in America, it’s Independence Day.
As I wrote that line, I’m listening to someone setting off fireworks in the alley behind our house. I can also hear fireworks going off from other parts of the neighborhood, too. I turn on the television set – someone dressed up like Uncle Sam is trying to sell me Auto Insurance … like, if I drove, I’d trust someone wearing a red white and blue sequined suit while “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” plays in the background. Or, maybe it was the matching sequined stovepipe hat. Whatever … That might work if I was looking to buy ice cream or something – but not anything important like insurance.
Through Blogs, Facebook, and e-mail – I’m hearing stories about awesome parties, spectacular fireworks displays, picnics and all sorts of fun stuff.
If you live in America, it’s hard to forget that this is Independence Day.
But, what exactly are we celebrating?
Sometimes it seems we’re celebrating the fact that it’s summertime. That’s why we pull out our barbeques – so we can invite our friends and relatives over for grilled hamburgers and hot dogs (and classics like potato salad).
Other times, it seems like it’s just another holiday … we don’t have to work tomorrow, so let’s go out to the bars and drink ‘till we puke. Woohoo!
Do we even remember why we’re celebrating Independence Day on the 4th of July?
Oh, yeah … that’s right. On July 4th, 1776, the United States Congress signed The Declaration of Independence. I remember that now … so … the 4th of July is also The United States of America’s birthday. How could I forget that? … Happy Birthday, America.
Hold on a second … what was the Declaration of Independence, again? Isn’t it that document where the original 13 colonies pretty much told King George III that he could go F*#& himself for all we care?
Or, something like that? Kind of sort of?
What does the Declaration of Independence say again?
It starts off by saying that people should be able to declare political independence as long as it is reasonable, explicable, and the reasons why should be explained.
Not bad as far as first sentences go … but, it isn’t until the second sentence that things really get good. In fact, it’s so good … it’s probably the only part of the entire document that people remember. Does this sound familiar?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
This section was known as The Preamble (or, Introduction). It details the background about what people in America were thinking at that time. It was their way of saying that everybody has a right to be treated fairly by the government and how everybody should have a right to their live their lives freely and do whatever it is that makes them happy. And, whenever government gets in the way of that – the people have a right to do something about it.
It is interesting to note that many phrases used in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence have been used throughout American history and are still being uttered today. Abraham Lincoln based much of his political ideals upon these statements, especially how “all men were created equal” including all those slaves he sought to free. Even today, you may also hear a law being challenged in court because it deprives someone from “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". You have to admit – those are some amazing words.
After this point, the Declaration of Independence goes on to demonstrate the specific things King George had done (or, in some cases not done) that they felt violated their rights and why they no longer thought he was fit to rule over them.
After this, they go on to explain how they tried to work things out, resolve the problem, but King George pretty much was leaving them no choice … it’s nothing personal, we’re just not that in to you.
Then, in the final section, those early Americans told the British Crown to go take a long walk off a short pier. We’re going to do our own thing from now on … so don’t bother even trying to tell us what to do anymore ‘cause we’re not listening.
If you want to know more about The Declaration of Independence, I suggest you read the copy at the National Archives.
As I said earlier … the signing of The Declaration of Independence is celebrated as The Nation’s birthday because it was the time when the American colonists finally got together, stuck their heads out their windows and started screaming “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
Today, it’s been 233 years since the American Colonists told King George not to let the door hit him on the ass on his way out. In many ways, America has come a long way since then.
Yet, in other ways, America is still the same as it was back in 1776.
Maybe … this Independence Day … we should remember what that means.
The World Lost Two People Yesterday…
The world lost two people yesterday … Farrah and Michael.
I’ve been rather silent about Michael Jackson’s death … mostly because I have nothing to say. In the past, I have been largely critical of MJ – or rather, his actions – especially those involving children (both his own, as well as the other children around him).
Today – two things happened that broke my silence about MJ. The first was that I was called a racist because I didn’t think that MJ was one of the greatest men who ever lived. I will agree that MJ’s contribution to the world of music has been beyond phenomenal. Likewise, I can also see how people can look up to MJ as a sense of inspiration, being one member of a family that went from poverty to success. Still, that is a far cry from saying that he was one of the greatest men who ever lived.
The second thing that broke my silence about MJ was hearing someone equate the death of MJ to that of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales … a woman known for her compassion, charisma, grace, style, as well as the time and energy she put into working with (and starting) charities that helped the homeless, the elderly, youth, and drug addicts. In 1987, she became the first public figure to support (or even show any amount of compassion) to people living with HIV and AIDS, at a time when public opinion seemed to be quite the opposite. Shortly before her death, she tried to turn public attention to issues like banning landmines – not because she was wanting to do something political, but because she saw the devastation they caused, especially to children, long after the conflict was over.
In my mind – there is no comparison to these two people.
Yesterday and today’s events have reminded me of something I had nearly forgotten. It’s the quantity, not the quality, of a person’s life that seems to matter.
I think that’s sad.
Pick up a newspaper or magazine that has come out today and I’m sure you’ll see everything you wanted to see about Michael Jackson. And, I bet if you flip through the rest of the pages, I’m sure you’ll eventually run into something about Farrah Fawcett as well. In today’s Chicago Sun-Times, the cover is devoted almost entirely to MJ, as is the first several pages. It isn’t until you get to page 26 that you see the first mention of Farrah with headlines like “’Charlie’s’ Girl And A Lot More” and “Angel Spread Wings; Whole World Smiled”.
Page 26?
Not even something on the front page to tell you to turn to page 26.
And, page 27…
So, at least she got two pages.
Could be worse. Page 34 has an inch-wide “obituary” on Jean Dausset, winner of a Nobel Prize in 1980 after his discovery lead to a method where doctors could test organs for transplants to determine the compatibility between donor and receiver. Something that saved how many people’s lives?
All he did was win a Nobel Prize. Nobody pays much attention to those. Right?
Without Googling or Binging or Yahooing etc… how many Nobel Prize Winners can you name?
See?
Anyway … I’ve gotten off track a little here.
As I said at the top of this post … the world lost two people yesterday.
Let’s just not forget that other one, ok?
Lessons in “Noli Nothis Permittere Te Terere”…
It’s time to make a fresh start…
Recently, I took a long, hard look at everything I’ve posted to this blog. I’ve done this before, but this time I started asking myself some fairly deep questions. Questions like: What does my blog say about me? What kind of picture does it paint of me? If someone who had never met me read my blog, would they be impressed or repulsed? In answering those questions, I’ve learned a little bit about myself.
The first incarnation of this blog was all over the place. It featured all sorts of posts – everything from thought provoking commentary on social issues … some humorous posts … but, things weren’t working the way I had thought I had. For example … one week (in particular) I posted two items to my blog. The first one involved a topic I was very passionate about. The second one was me poking fun at everyone’s reaction to seeing Britney Spears’ crotch getting out of a limousine (I posted this picture of Britney holding her pet Beaver). That week, my blog went from 10-30 hits per day to 200-500 hits per day. Suddenly I found this blog on several “Up-And-Coming Blog Lists” and one day I was the “fastest growing blog on WordPress”. My thought provoking post got almost no hits. All my new viewers wanted to see Britney Spears’ Beaver. URGH!
Now, I’ve been writing (and blogging) long enough to know that when I write about something I am passionate about – not everyone out there is going to feel the same way. That didn’t bother me. But, it did get me thinking about trying something new.
Around this same time, I had a little personal problem I was trying to deal with. (Ok, it wasn’t so “little”.) Anyway… mostly because of that problem, I stopped posting my personal thoughts on pretty much everything. I was afraid that anything and everything I posted would just add fuel to that fire. I still “wrote” about things I was passionate about – but (1) nothing that effected me directly; and (2) for the most part, I was blogging about other people’s thoughts.
“Noli Nothis Permittere Te Terere” is not just the title of my blog … it’s also become my motto. It translates from the Latin to “Don’t let the Bastards get you down”. Words I haven’t been living by for awhile now.
And now … it’s time for me to reclaim this … and I am fairly confident doing this will help me get back into being the kind of person I really want to be.
Why now? What brought this on?
A few things really.
First off, I’ve been making some personal changes in my life … trying to eliminate the things in my life that aren’t good for me physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually … like, I’m trying to stop smoking. I’m trying to eat better and exercise more… I’m trying to separate myself from the toxic people in my life … just to name a few.
The other thing reason … well, you can blame those wacky “girls” on The View for this one. They were discussing the recent antics of a certain popular blogger who had gotten into a fight with the manager of a certain popular music band and used Twitter to ask someone to call the police for him. Personally – that whole thing made me sick. (What the blogger dude did, not My Girls.)
Someone … (I think it was Whoopi) … raised the issue that if the blogger had only written nice things about celebrities, he wouldn’t be as popular today as he is. I agreed with her at first, until I really started thinking about it. Sure … maybe people will be more likely to pick up a magazine if it features something about how some celebrity is being a total bitch, and less likely to pick it up if that same celebrity has done something rewarding. My question is … What does that say about us, about our society, if that’s the way it is now?
What does that say about me if I sit here and say nothing about it?
See … I think the stories about celebrities doing good things are more important than those other ones. And, the thing is … they stick with us a lot longer. Britney Spears isn’t going to go down in history as “that girl who slid out of a limo wearing a mini-skirt and no underwear” … Give that enough time and people will eventually forget it even happened in the first place.
On the other hand … when a celebrity does something good … no matter how small or large that may be … they find their way into our hearts and I think everyone comes away a little better for it. And then something funny happens … they stop being just Celebrities … and start becoming our heroes.
I think the world needs more heroes.
The more we talk about celebrities making fools of themselves or doing things that make them look bad, the more we encourage that kind of behavior … and the more we make it, dare I say, acceptable …? Have we got to the point where all a celebrity has to do to be on the news (or to be blogged about) is get drunk and puke all over the sidewalk?
My advise to celebrities … if you’re needing a bit of publicity … why not try doing something that is rewarding. Why not use your celebrity status to leave some positive energy out there in the world. Go visit sick kids in the hospital … or help some charity raise money … Why not do something … anything … to help yourself go down in history as being someone people can look up to, rather than just being that celebrity who pooped his or her pants at Taco Bell.
To me … that’s what “don’t let the bastards get you down” is all about … There’s a lot of stuff happening in the world that … let’s face it … if we continue to focus on it, it’s only going to get worse.
So … maybe it’s time to start looking for light at the end of the tunnel?
