By Kurt Kuhn
The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. Fireworks, barbeque, and late summer nights outside were probably a big part of that growing up, but there was always something more. That something goes to the heart of what it is to be an American.
Celebrating Independence Day begins way before the fireworks. This year, the festivities officially got underway at the crack of dawn, when our three-year-old Lucy excitedly picked out her favorite red, white, and blue dress. Anna picked out the right outfit for our six-year-old Eli. We then headed to Williamson County, for the Round Rock Fourth of July Parade.
I walked in the parade with the Williamson County Democrats and State Representative Diana Maldonado. Anna and the kids rode on the group’s wagon, with the critical job of dispensing candy to the walkers to hand out to the crowd. The group of Democrats walking in the parade was large and enthusiastic, and so was the crowd along the route. There were rave reviews all around for our candy dispensers. Caught up in all the excitement and joy of handing the candy out, Eli and Lucy did not even try to save any pieces for themselves. We all had so much fun, no one seemed to notice the heat until the parade ended.
Afterward on the ride home, I heard Eli explaining to Lucy in the backseat that we celebrate Independence Day because it is when America got its freedom from England. I was impressed by my first-grader-to-be’s grasp of history, but I realized that there was still that something more that brought us out to celebrate.
On the Fourth of July, we don’t just celebrate our nation’s independence. The notion of our country being governed by another seems too far removed from our modern reality to adequately register. The Fourth of July has become more a celebration of what America is—the greatest democracy with the greatest individual freedoms the world has ever seen. Though many of these freedoms were not spelled out until more than eleven years later with the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and our nation has over the years and continues to seek that “more perfect Union,” it is still fitting that we celebrate all that is America on Independence Day. With the Declaration of Independence the Founding Fathers captured the essence of what makes America great:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Independence Day is not just about celebrating our freedom from England; it is about celebrating America as the realization of self-governance by free people. While some chose to mark the day with “tea parties” to decry their imaginary oppression, all you had to do was look at the news out of Iran to realize how truly blessed and free we were.
As the heat began to dissipate, we spent the afternoon and evening hours with good friends, swimming, eating barbeque, and finally watching fireworks. When I tucked Eli in to bed that night, we spent a few minutes reviewing the highlights of the day and talking about all the things we have to be thankful for as Americans. I know that he will remember the parade and the fireworks, and I hope he never forgets the freedoms.
