I've never really understood Independence Day.
For as long as I can remember, Independence Day aka, July 4th, has always just been a day in the hottest part of the summer where people go to the lake, cook hot dogs, eat s'mores and make explosions in the sky. It's been a holiday, like most other holidays, that I look forward to because of the parties, the plans and the people more so than I do actually looking at the reason that there's a day to celebrate to begin with. In fact, the way I usually celebrate July 4th simply consists of determining where I want to go celebrate it, what red, white and blue color scheme I want to where and whether or not its legal to shoot off fireworks at the location I'll be at on said day of celebration. Very rarely have I ever and do I ever take the time to think about Independence day really is or what it means.
Growing up, I spent nearly every July 4th the same way: a group of friends and I would make our way out to a country fireworks stand, spend a couple hundred dollars of our own money on what we thought would make for an amazing fireworks show, and then we would all drive out to the family farm and proceed to blow things up for 5 or 6 hours late into the night, always testing the limits of who could hold a firecracker in their hand the longest before throwing it at someone and making it explode right behind them while we stuffed our faces with hot dogs, coke and s'mores. One of my friends even stuffed firecrackers into the exhaust pipe of one of our trucks and lit them on fire, which looking back now seems just as crazy as it did then. Anyway, my independence days have never really consisted of much reflection or thankfulness, but have mostly consisted of fireworks, friends and food.
As a 24-year-old millennial, I speak for myself, not my whole generation, when I say that I really feel like I miss out on what the meaning of Independence Day really is. It seems like July 4th is just another day to throw a party, and I often blow past the freedom for the fireworks. Do I think it's wrong to celebrate the freedom we have? No way. Not at all. Do I think that the celebrations we get to have and get to experience as families, friends and a nation are 'overshadowing what we should really be focusing on?' No. That's not it either. These celebrations and this holiday are only happening because of the freedom we have in America, and this is one of the few days out of the year that our country seems to be more united than divided by politics. July 4th is a special day, but I just hope I can learn to realize that it's a special day more so because of the freedom we have more so than just the perks to freedom.
The freedom in American comes at a big cost. Thousands and thousands of people have lost their lives over hundreds of years to ensure that we can grill hotdogs in our backyards with families and friends. We've had some amazing leaders that have had to make some difficult decisions to guarantee that our nation can still gather one day a year together in unity to watch explosions in the sky as we celebrate the lives of those who defend the place we call home.
Freedom, much like love, is easy to celebrate, but is hard to gain and even harder to understand the depths of. As a nation, we are grateful for it, but hopefully more so than that, we can begin to understand it so we can be all the more grateful. Don't bypass the freedom for the fireworks, but realize it's because of that freedom that we get to do what we do (unless you live in the city limits).
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: Don't bypass freedom just for the fireworks.