The July 4th weekend is coming fast. There will be lots of outdoor events such as cookouts on Saturday, the actual holiday. The weather most likely will be hot, whether it rains or not. I imagine I’ll find some excuse to eat a hot dog — nature’s wonder food of all times.
Hopefully, I’ll also pause for a minute and remember the significance of the day. I hope all of us will.
It’s so easy to take all that we have for granted. Most people in this country don’t have to worry about fighting to survive.
We don’t have to worry about scratching out a living on a frontier. I know economic times are rough and I see many people who don’t have much in some of the volunteer work I do.
Nonetheless, rarely does someone in this country truly have to worry about starvation.
Since we have a volunteer military force, most of the country does not have to be concerned about a family member being hauled off against his or her will to serve in the military. Other people perform that chore for us. Another person’s child runs that risk.
Our nation really is fortunate. A small number of people, when compared to the country as a whole, bear the burden of keeping the rest of us safe.
But life wasn’t always so easy in America. Times were tough in 18th-century America. Back-breaking farm labor and personal hunting fed the country. The occupying Army was not seen as friendly or as always looking out for the citizenry.
Ultimately, a king ruled rather than a president and an elected legislature. Our ancestors didn’t have television or the Internet to tell us what to think or the clothes to wear.
Life was just hard!
Thankfully, a bunch of people decided to lay everything they had on the line to forge a new nation. They succeeded.
However, that wasn’t easy.
Families were split over allegiance to the British Crown and this new idea of a democracy. War is never pleasant. People died. Property was destroyed.
Survivors had to leave their homes and start anew. Eventually enemies learned to live together once again.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the United States is perfect. Each of us probably has at least one idea that we think is a good idea to change something.
I sure know things I’d change — but my children are probably happy I can’t.
Nonetheless, I haven’t seen any place that was better. I’ve lived in lots of places and traveled to even more places. I’ve met people from all over the world.
The United States still clearly comes out on top based on all I’ve seen. I cannot fathom leaving here and going someplace else.
So when you’re wandering around this July 4, be thankful for the things you have and that you don’t have to worry about someone’s private army shooting you or seizing your property.
Be thankful also for the courage of those patriots over the years who have been willing to risk everything to keep this country moving forward.
John M. House is a retired Army colonel who lives in Midland, Ga. His e-mail is housearmylife@aol.com.
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