By Harold Brummett

Denmark Star Route

 

A friend of mine texted me the other day and said that the Fourth of July had special meaning for him because it was the day he got home from Vietnam. I can only imagine what that was like. The whole country celebrated freedom on his release from service. 

I watch the parades, fireworks and celebrations and wonder if the Founding Fathers had any inkling of the promise and potential that was unleashed. I know they had hope as to what the new nation could become but as we used to say in the Army, hope is not a course of action.  

As with the birth of any new thing, the possibilities and promise are endless. Our country made mistakes and corrected them as we reached for and worked to fulfill the promise. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the roadmap and it is what gave a course of action to the hope of the Founding Fathers. 

A friend in Korea, an older gentleman I had gotten to know was fond of saying that ‘you Americans are just babies, Korea has had a civilization for five thousand years.’ 

After hearing this repeated countless times as my Korean friend and I puzzled and discussed some foreign policy or the other, a retort came to mind. “Korea has had a civilization for five thousand years, correct?” 

“Yes, yes” he replied, “Americans are just babies.” 

I said, “Americans have just been on the scene for only two hundred years.”  

“Yes, just babies,” he agreed. “Well,” I said, “in two hundred years we went from zero to a man on the moon, what have you guys been doing for five thousand years?” My Korean friend never called Americans babies again. 

Americans have hybrid vigor. This isn’t just genetics but of thought, action and a melding of different ways of approaching problems. This becomes an American way of doing things, looking at problems and solving them. 

Despite all the hoopla, the derision, the shouting back and forth as we work through our problems our founding documents are the guardrails we depend on to keep us moving forward together as a unified people. 

Celebrate the Fourth of July. Celebrate it as you see fit, just don’t let the day pass without notice. For some it will be a barbecue, for others it will be watching fireworks or perhaps a picnic with family. Maybe watching sports on TV or playing a game somewhere. Relax and enjoy the safety and prosperity hoped for two hundred and 49 years ago. 

For my friend who returned from Vietnam, celebrating was taking off the uniform after years of service to the nation.