WHAT DOES THE FOURTH OF JULY MEAN TO US TODAY?

            

I ask myself this question every year at this time and every year it changes because every year our country changes. I go back a long ways in this countries history. Back to before the start of W.W. II in fact. Back far enough to remember the pride that was instilled in this country, at the end of that terrible war. Not just pride in our military but pride in our citizens too, for the way they banded together and went without, so we could win. It wasn’t just a military victory it was a whole country victory. You see back then people really understood what fighting for our freedoms, was all about and they were proud that they had won. It was indeed a team effort.

I remember watching the Super Bowl many years ago and seeing and listening to Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled banner. You had to be there and see the way the song was choreographed, the planes flying overhead with red, white and blue contrails trailing behind them. The flag presented by the armed forces moving with the breeze as if it was alive. But it was how beautiful Whitney sung that anthem that really brought it to me and made me understand what this is all about. I remember how I unashamedly cried and my friend asked me “What’s wrong Mike, why are you so sad?”

“Nothing” I said, “just tears of pride.”

“Pride?” she said.

 “Yes pride” I said, “and if I have to explain that to you, then that is, what is, so sad.”

It’s been the loss of that pride for our country that worries me so. It’s the fact that our pride has indeed turned to prejudice. Prejudice against our fellow Americans and our leaders. Prejudice against foreigners and other countries. In the book of Proverbs 16-18 in the Holy Bible it says “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty sprit before the fall.” The ill-conceived prejudices we seem to have so many times are based more on arrogance then pride. Yes, they are a haughty spirit.

Today many things have watered down that pride. Politician’s wars that left our troops, with doubts about why they were fighting. A country tired of war and conflict. A country mired in debt from overseas spending while our own people suffer. I don’t like Donald Trump but I do like his slogan. “Make America Great Again.” Donald can’t do it. No one person can-- but together we can. We just need to regain that attitude that prevailed back in the early 1940’s. A time when we took insurmountable odds and turned them into victory.

So what does the 4^th mean to me? It means we had it once and we can have it again. Maybe we’ve taken a step backwards lately but we need to get it back. No one can live on his or her laurels forever. We need our country to be whole again and respected. The world needs our country to be a leader again. It’s a scary time indeed but 1941 was an even scarier time and we proved equal to the task. The men and women from that great conflict are fast disappearing. What we can’t let disappear is the pride they brought this country.-------God Bless America on this 4^th of July.

Submitted by Mike Holst 14042 Big Pine Trail Crosslake MN. 56442 218 692 2937