i was home all day today. i saw no fireworks, no sparklers. i did not eat a burger, or a hotdog, or an ear of corn. no watermelon, or apple pie either. i didn't sweat by the side of a city pool, or jump in a lake, or wave a flag. i didn't see a parade, or wave at a fireman, or paint my face with stars and stripes. but i did think about my country all day. and how happy i am to be an american. and how much that means. i didn't know it until now. until living in a country that is very, very different than ours. where your vote doesn't count. rulers are appointed. and freedom of speech doesn't really exist. the veneer of it does, but deep down, it doesn't. and people are still happy, and they laugh, and they carry on and hope that it will get better, or just ignore it and do their best. but i get to go home to a place where it is better. and yes, there are LOTS of problems. lots of them. we don't do right all of the time. but sometimes we do. most of the time, i'd like to think, we do. and we celebrate diversity. we have a lot of work to do in the united states. there are many things i don't like. but there are many more that i do. and i feel so lucky to live there. to have lived the priviledged life that i have. the education that i received. the food that i eat. the fact that i don't have to get a paper stamped and signed every time i visit a new state or city.
anyway, i have a newfound appreciation for my crazy little country. even if the rest of the world can't stand us. (again, we have a lot of work to do...). but we started doing something right. i just hope we can hang onto it. cuz it's pretty amazing. and lots of people are fighting for it every day. and we just get to have it. aren't we lucky.
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