Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Sunday, Jul. 04, 2004 - 6:12 p.m.

I'm having pretty mixed feelings this Independence Day.

On the one hand, it means quite a lot to me, this holiday. It's my second favorite, just behind Christmas, and I feel a great amount of gratitude for those throughout history who have been willing to lay down their lives to ensure the freedoms I currently hold and more besides. They have paid far more dearly than I will probably ever be asked to, all so that I can sit on the grass at the end of a hot summer day and watch bright sparkling explosions of color against a night sky, drinking diet coke and eating barbecue and egg salad sandwiches, and then go home to watch a movie or work on my website or anything else I might possibly want to do, secure in the knowledge I live in a place where I have a say in my government and a right to decide how it is run and I am governed. I love those men and women and grieve for their sacrifice, but I recognize that it was as necessary a sacrifice as Christ�s. Mankind is not an intelligent � or generous � species. We will not always do the right thing. Or the brightest. So when we mess up, we need someone willing to step up and take the heat, if only to remind us what it is we truly value and need: peace. Love. To recognize the struggle and worth of those not ourselves, and to know the meaning of true sacrifice and caring.

To me, the flag has always represented those ideals. It has stood for all that is good and true of mankind. All that we can be and all that we will, if the powers of truth and light are with us. But this particular Fourth of July, this day, all I can really think about when I see the flag is deceit. Abuse of power. Injustice and brutality. I see in the flag a regime bent on world domination and the trappings of power, a government overstepping its bounds and grasping with both hands all it can, without a care for what that does to the world or its people. A government which has somehow gone beyond that which it was designed for and lost touch with its citizens, stopped listening to our cries, be they of fear or suffering or outrage. A government which bullies its neighbors and panders to special interest, slowly picking apart and eradicating the Constitution, and all in the name of what? What, exactly, is all this for? Whom is it for? I hardly think for you or I, as the policies and decisions currently running amok in Washington hardly reflect our interests, nor do they make us any safer. They take money from our pockets and pat us on the head in condescension, telling us not to worry, they know what�s best for the country, and therefore, us. And all the while our utilities, water supply, and nuclear power plants go unprotected, our borders unguarded, our persons at risk. But don�t worry; they know best. Those men wrapped in the same flag they�ve disregarded and disgraced, they know what to do. For the country and the flag.

So I have mixed feelings this day. I want to celebrate the flag I love. I want to cherish the men and women who have made this day possible. I want to watch fireworks through a veil of tears and sing the Star Spangled Banner past the lump in my throat and thank God I live in a great and free country, truly blessed to be here. But as long as the things those distinguished men and women gave themselves for are in danger, I can not celebrate on this day. To do so would be to insult and do grave injustice to their sacrifice. To do so is to accept less than I am willing to accept, to pardon those who sully the flag and the name of this nation and her people, and to then cheer them on. And that angers and saddens me more than I can say.

Peace out,
Katie

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