Happy July 4: Our nation’s 250th birthday a good day to reflect on patriotism | Williams
About a month ago, The Kansas City Star Opinion team reached out to readers asking them to share their feelings of patriotism with the promise that we, in turn, would share some of those responses on this July Fourth as the country celebrates its 250th birthday.
That’s what I intend to do here, but first, I wanted to let you know about an act of patriotism you can be a part of. Perhaps next year, you’ll want to share the moment as one of your most patriotic memories.
On the steps of the First Christian Church of Independence, 125 S. Pleasant St., founded on July 4, 1835, churchgoers and others in the community will come together and join in a choral reading of the Declaration of Independence.
How fitting that an Independence. church, founded on our nation’s birthday 59 years after America’s independence from the British, would host the collective reading of what is widely considered the most significant document in U.S. history — and for it to happen on the country’s 250th birthday.
I guess the only thing that could make it any more patriotic would be for you to be a part of the 30- to 40-minute event scheduled for 10 a.m. Everyone is invited and gets a copy of the U.S. Constitution — and it’s free.
To repeat what I said last month: As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence, many of us have probably been thinking about more than fireworks and backyard cookouts.
I also said it makes me sad that our politicians have not taken advantage of the moment to create a national opportunity for a unified American celebration. America is so diverse, and most of us understand that diversity has made us strong and a global leader. So much of what we enjoy about being a part of this nation — the food, the music, the fashion, the innovation, the sport — is made possible because of all the many cultures embraced on our shores.
But that diversity also means many of us might experience patriotism, love and pride in our country in very different, but no less important, ways. Patriotism means something different to many of us.
I shared that for me, the most profound act of patriotism came in knowing the story of how much my Jamaican dad, as a teen, longed to come to America, become a citizen and experience the American dream.
Mutual trust, civil discourse
I heard from Michael Symanski of Overland Park. He thinks about patriotism whenever he visits any Civil War or Revolutionary War battlefield and cemetery.
“I am struck by how deadly serious, political and worldview differences can get,” Symanski wrote in response to our unscientific Star survey.
“The thousands of graves tell us that without mutual trust, civil discourse can degenerate into horrific combats between people who share the same culture, language and religion, and claim the same patriotic duty,” he wrote. “The ghosts of those lives cut short beg us to control our unfounded fears, selfish ambitions, narrow-minded obstinacy, unearned pride, and angry frustration.”
I was also struck by the response from Frank Mufic, a Vietnam veteran from Centennial, Colorado.
Mufic wrote that he thinks about what patriotism means and how it is, and sometimes is not embraced by Americans. He wrote this memory:
“Enlisting in the USAF (United States Air Force) in 1966, going to Vietnam serving my country there, but coming home to angry people who disliked our troops,” Mufic wrote.
“To this day, I still remember the hate people poured on service members. I still love my country as much as I did in the past. Nothing will ever change that.”
Harry Truman’s home in Independence
As a resident of Independence, I particularly loved that reader Brent Schondelmeyer, a native of Independence, said that growing up there meant that he was always surrounded by patriotism in some way.
“Our community’s very name reflects the important ideas of a new nation — freedom of thought, freedom of religion, a chance to make a future on the frontier,” Schondelmeyer wrote. “Independence has a rich history — religious (Mormon), social (Three Trails), political (Civil War) and presidential (Truman). And on the Fourth, my own history and sense of this place become interwoven in the day.”
He went on to write about so many memories of his childhood, including living down the street from where President Harry Truman lived on Delaware Street. He wrote about feeling a sense of freedom and a quiet sense of joy, living in Independence and knowing it’s where he will live out his life.
Schondelmeyer said he has joined the choral reading of the Declaration of Independence many times before and will again this year. “Indeed, there are phrases that still can stir the soul,” he said. And he shared some:
“And so we will begin (with) ’When in the Course of human events,’ and will get to ’life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.’ We will pause when we read about ’inalienable rights’ and wonder if the truths are so ’self-evident,’ why has attaining them been so hard?“
I might answer that for you, Brent, the way my mama would when I’d ask her why something or the other had to be so hard. She would say the best things in life are hardest to attain and to hold on to. But anything of joy and goodwill, worth having, is worth the struggle to attain.
Happy birthday, America. Happy Independence Day to Americans who celebrate it.
