4th of July

I haven't celebrated the 4th of July in the United States for three years, and whenever I find myself in another country on this day, I am a lot more patriotic than I am stateside.

The reason for this is simple: when I'm abroad I can celebrate the vision and ideals of this country without having to deal with all the people that just want to drunkenly blow things up to celebrate our nation's (violent) birth. I know kids aren't in school, so I can't sit 'em down and have a conversation with them about "what it all means," but it sure would be nice if, like Carl Wilson sings, we could pull together in hope and push each other to continue to make the USA better, striving to fulfill the ideals set out in our founding documents, guaranteeing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to ALL our citizens.

Brothers sisters stand firmly and try
Reaching the spacious skies
Fourth of July

It's a classic Carl cut, a sweet and beautiful song.