Friday it will be the Fourth of July, which in an election year takes on added meaning. Of course, there will be the usual cliche’s about we would not be having an election if it were not for the Fourth of July, but as a first-generation American whose family came to this country as political refugees, the Fourth of July holds special meaning for me, for without the Fourth of July there would be no me.

I won’t bore you here with my family history–you can read it in the about link above–other than to say that recently we were going through some old family photographs as part of a book I have been asked to do about my grandfather. Among those photographs was a picture of my family on the boat as it pulled into New York Harbor, You can tell it’s New York because the base of the Statue of Liberty is visible.

The person who took the picture–I suspect it may have been my uncle, for he made a living photographing tourists on the French Riviera as a way of getting together the money to bring he and his mother to America–made sure to focus on the people and not on the statue. That was exactly the right decision. It’s also a good message for this holiday.

In recent years, the Fourth seems to focus more on the “statue,” the external events, then the people. As an example my son was privileged to attend the annual DC Fourth celebration which he watched with his wife-to-be from the Capitol steps. They had to stand in line for several hours in the heat to get a spot and then endure an evacuation when a thunderstorm threatened.

They had a chance to see Stevie Wonder live and witness the famous DC fireworks display first hand. I would be lying if I didn’t say they were impressed. To see such a show for free from a front row seat on the steps of our nation’s Capitol is a rare privilege. But note my emphasis on the word free. They did not pay for the show and strangely enough no politician questioned the expense of the fireworks or the appropriateness of Stevie Wonder as the main entertainment.

Now what does this have to do with my uncle’s picture and the fact that we have lost the emphasis on people that once used to characterize the Fourth? In small towns across America they still celebrate the Fourth the old-fashioned way, with a downtown parade in which anyone who wants to can participate, usually wearing something red, white and blue. The candidates march also, but even they recognize this is a nonpartisan affair.

As the Fourth has become more commercial, those parades are slowly becoming extinct, and as they become extinct do does the role of the people in the Fourth, which has now become an occasion for yet another holiday sale and a day off. More people in America probably spend their time watching the Fourth on television than decorating their tricycles or wearing Uncle Sam suits or just carrying a flag. In fact flags on the Fourth are now a rarity rather than common in many neighborhoods.

But the Fourth is about the people. There has long been a tendency to celebrate the Fourth as the achievement of the so-called Founders, which was not inconsiderable, but we forget that the fact the Fourth even occurred was not due to the founders, most of whom never carried a musket during the revolution but about thousands whose names now lie on worn old tombstones that are largely forgotten.

I once was privileged to walk through the cemetery at Concord, Massachussets where many of those who died at the conflict that began with the shot “heard round the world” at the rude bridge lie buried. Their stones are simple and bear only the briefest mention of their deaths in one of the world’s most seminal events.

For all its immortality that bridge isn’t much, a wooden arch that spans a creek not much wider than the average bedroom. The bridge speaks a particularly American dialect, built and rebuilt from logs linked together ina fashion that evokes that legendary American dwelling–the log cabin.

But the bridge sits in a valley, so when you stand in its center at the top of the arch you look across at the hilly fields where they could see the British marching towards them. What must have been going through their heads as they looked out at the “lobsterbacks” knowing not only that they were outgunned, but that if they fired at all it would be a “shot heard round the world.”

You can actually walk to Emerson’s house from there and also that of the Alcotts and others of the Concord literary set, but it is those worn gravestones that I kept coming back to, perhaps hoping they might speak to me.

On July 3, John Adams wrote the following letter to his wife;

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Adams’ letter often gets quoted at the Fourth, but we seem to have lost sight of its meaning, for above all it is about the people. One sentence makes that clear:

I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.

So we are back to the railing of a ship entering New York harbor before most people even believed there would be another world war, a ship that would deposit my family at the place so many immigrants had come before them–Ellis Island. As refugees they gave up everything to come here because they believed in the possibility of America. That combination of sacrifice and “tryumph” lies at the center of Adams’ thoughts.

Today we seem to want the one without the other. The emphasis of the Fourth now on media events rather than the people is one indication of that. No matter which political party or persuasion you belong to you have to admit, sacrifice has not been high on our list especially of “the Toil and Blood and Treasure.”

We’ll leave aside rants on the work ethic or income equality on this day and talk only of toil for the community. How many of you reading this have done something for your community lately? As for blood, this country now prefers to wimp out of its wars, refusing to declare war so that everyone must share in the sacrifice. Again, we’ll leave aside what you think about Iraq and Afghanistan and merely ask have you ever pressured Congress into properly declaring these wars so that the military burden is shared by all of us? and finally there is the treasure part. No one seems to want to pay for government any more. We are willing to spend billions on lottery tickets but consistently vote against taxes.

So as Adams saw the tension between “toil” and “tryumph,” so today that tension persists. Yet I look at that photograph and think about those graves and I have to agree with Adams’ feelings about posterity. We can not think otherwise, for, as I have said before, if we lose faith in the people, we lose faith in ourselves and our democracy.

Tags: American flag, American people, Concord, D.C., democracy, Ellis Island, Emerson, Fourth of July, John Adams, lobsterbacks, New York harbor, rude bridge, small towns, Statue of Liberty, Stevie Wonder, Uncle Sam, Washington
Tagged with: American flag • American people • Concord • D.C. • democracy • Ellis Island • Emerson • Fourth of July • John Adams • lobsterbacks • New York harbor • rude bridge • small towns • Statue of Liberty • Stevie Wonder • Uncle Sam • Washington