Topic: White Water
What Does July 4th Mean To Me?
Received via E-Mail
George Fallon
I remember fireworks displays that began with the National Anthem and ended with God Bless America.
I remember when it was known only as "Independence Day" and the stores down town that held big sales had American flags for the adults (ten cents) and pinwheels with stars and stripes for the kids (5 cents).
I remember when fireworks were legal for Americans to own.
I remember that every year, a couple of people got hurt or maimed because they weren't careful with the fireworks...about the same number who are hurt today now that they are illegal.
I remember when it meant parades and picnics where they played George M. Cohan songs and the people cheered.
I remember the soldiers and sailors and Marines in their uniforms, and the people cheered when they went by.
I remember when the American flag flew so high they had to lower it when they passed under phone lines.
I remember wearing my uncle's Marine Corps cap and thinking I was about the most dashing six-year-old on the planet.
I remember a feeling in my chest that I later learned was pride. When the local hero, a Medal of Honor winner, rode by in a 1952 Plymouth convertible and saluted me and called my name, I felt I could fly just like Superman.
I remember when it was a good thing to be a warrior and a Veteran.
That was in the days when we started the school day with a prayer, the pledge of allegiance and the singing of America.
That was in the days when everyone I knew was poor and wore hand me down clothes.
We played stick ball in the empty lot and put playing cards in the spokes of our second hand bicycles and caught catfish in the river with a pole made out of an old stick.
We went to the fireman's carnival at the fairgrounds and took hours deciding just how we were going to spend the nickle that Grandma gave us.
I remember "Crazy Mickey"...a retarded adult who used to take the hat off when the flag went by.
I also remember when it all changed...I think the whole world changed...
I remember that the town kept having parades but there was usually a contingent of War protestors that followed a block behind.
Then the parades gradually got shorter and the crowds thinned out.
Independence Day hasn't been the same for about 30 years now.
We still have the Parades, but fewer and fewer people show up. Those who do...I don't think many of them are there for the same reasons that we were back in 1955...
We still have the big sales in the stores but I haven't seen a red, white and blue pinwheel in years.
We still have the picnics but people don't talk to each other the way they used to...
In a lot of places, people tolerate veterans rather than respect them, and I think that's because Americans today take freedom for granted.
That happens when something is handed to you and you don't have to work for it.
Wealth is flaunted, poverty is shunned, honor and courage are given lip service by politicans who never served or risked anything.
The veteran community is shrinking and a couple of generations from now when we're all gone, our great grand children will have to learn the hard way that Freedom isn't something you once once and keep forever.
Freedom is a perishable comodity that has to be protected if it is to endure.
Today, fat cats and slackers who never fought for anything, are eagerly surrendering the rights and freedoms that were handed to them. They are willing to trade honor for a new car every couple of years, a time share in the Poconos and an occasional government handout.
And that's ok for them...but they are also throwing away our rights and freedoms with their own.
Higher taxes, erosion of the Bill of Rights, government agency mission creep...
A veteran has to wonder what it was all for.
It brings to mind the last verse of song about a crippled Australian veteran of Gallipoli in WW1:
So now every April I sit on me porch
And watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams and past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bone stiff and sore
They're tired old heros from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question.
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday,no one will march there at all.
But we can change all that if we really want to.
Let this year's 4th of July fireworks display serve as a wake up call to all of us. Let's work to bring back the Freedoms and liberties and ideals that our Veterans fought for.
I want to be able to light Roman Candles and sparklers in my back yard again.
I want to be able to decide for myself if I should wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle.
I don't want someone who never rode a motorcycle to decide for me.
I want to quit smoking because it's bad for me...not because politicans double the price of a pack of cigarettes.
I'm not really into guns, but I want to be able to keep one in my home if I choose.
I don't want people who are afraid of what they might do with a gun telling me that I don't need one. Need has nothing to do with it. Nobody needs a gun or a muscle car or a microwave oven for that matter, but if they want one and haven't forfeited that right by committing a violent crime, I think they should be free to do so.
I want to be able to watch what I want to on television and to read what I want and think what I want without special interests dictating the rules to me.
I want to never have to worry about being Politically Correct. Some people believe it would make the country a more orderly place if everyone were issued a social security number at birth.
If I had my way, I would see to it that everyone was issued a copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I would also make it a law that they read and memorize the entire thing. Then everyone would realize that our Founding Fathers felt the individual has the right to do anything he wants, as long as he doesn't infringe on the rights of others.
But I digress....
Until things change around here, I guess that to me, the 4th of July will be a reminder of those good old days when we all knew where we stood in the world...
On the 4th of July I will raise the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance with my hand over my heart and I will think of my grandparents and parents and aunts and uncles who helped save the world 54 years ago.
I'll watch the parades of yesterday in my mind and I'm sure I'll look foolish to anyone who sees me...But I'll be exercising my right to do so and I'll feel good about it.
Then for the rest of every year, I'll do whatever I can to bring those days...those values...back again...for all of us.
I salute you Jim Robinson as a true American Patriot, and for serving our great country!
USMC 1967-1973 2nd Force Recon SniperPosted by: CHIEF negotiator (nohatemail@all.com) *
07/02/98 08:47:49 EDT
To: CHIEF negotiator
I salute you, sir. Thanks for refreshing my memories.
From: Scuttlebutt () *
07/02/98 09:10:00 EDT
To: CHIEF negotiator
USAF 1973-1983: T/Sgt. USAF Veterinary Service
I want the same things as you my friend. Thanks......
From: vetvetdoug 07/04/98 00:05:52 EDT