Today is the two hundred twenty-ninth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That’s pretty amazing, and it’s gotten me to thinking how wonderful this holiday really is.
Not only is ours one of the oldest democracies in the world (and maybe the oldest; I’m not sure), but also the signers of the Declaration of Independence had the foresight to convene in July rather than October or January or March. Most likely their decision was a function of the difficulty of travel back then, but today we are the beneficiaries.
Fourth of July is about families and fun. Ah, you say, so is Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s true; however, these latter holidays require much preparation and often much expense, while Fourth of July doesn’t demand anything more than a grill, a bunch of burgers and a host of hot dogs. Even the fireworks are free.
Fourth of July is the height of the summer season, when children are out of school and parents schedule time off from work. Those two other summer holidays – Memorial Day and Labor Day – simply don’t have the sense of freedom attached to them. Besides, they haven’t been around even half as long.
When I was growing up, the various annual holidays came on different days of the week, just like Fourth of July still does. But somewhere along the timeline of my life, the government decided arbitrarily to move most holidays to a Monday and provide the citizens with three-day weekends wherever possible. To my knowledge, only the Fourth of July, December 25, and January 1 still rotate through the week.
Call me old-fashioned, but I hope this never changes. The Fourth of July always, always, always falls on July 4. That’s how it should be.
Leave a Reply