The Real America
I know I’ve talked about this in the past, but I continue to be struck by it.
Some of us spend way too much time analyzing every little move made by people on the national and local political scene. You have to be careful with that, however, because it truly is another world…one that really bears no relationship to the one in which the rest of us live.
All you had to do was venture forth to a local community celebration this past Independence Day weekend to realize that. And for my money, the smaller the town, the better the feeling.
People proudly wearing some form of red, white and blue…from costumes for the occasion to simply remembering to wear some variation of the colors when they went to the town’s main street to watch a parade, hear some speech-making from a stage, and listen to a band hired for the evening. People with all manner of lawn chairs, coolers, and toys to keep the attention of younger attendees from wandering.
What is great about these is that typically, no one has to put on a big speech about how wonderful the country is…because everyone at the event already knows it. It’s sort of like knowing a family story so well, the person telling it doesn’t have to finish it.
Never before have I heard so many point out the phrase “a more perfect union” from the Declaration of Independence. And it’s fitting, because that’s the context that is needed. The country is not now, and never has been, perfect…but we constantly strive to be more perfect.
And there’s no better evidence than the number of people fighting to get here.
I’d love for some of those uninformed folks to get a sense of the real America, like we have here. But I’m sure they’d find something to dislike. Probably best that they stay in their cocoon…and we can enjoy similar gatherings all summer long, to unplug from the world and plug in to what’s real.
