Reflections on the Fourth of July at a time of challenge for America.
This is a difficult time in America. From mass shootings, to the fall of Roe v. Wade, to the persistent denial of the need to do something about clear injustices like racism and homophobia, our country’s faults are on full display. These faults make it easy to feel like America is disappointing, failing. This creates challenges for our observance of Independence Day, which is supposed to be a celebration of this country. How, we may ask, can we celebrate something that has fallen so short? Is the Fourth of July just empty jingoism? How can we embrace fireworks and parties with so much going wrong with the object of these festivities? This essay is an attempt to organize my thoughts about these difficult questions. It is a personal reflection on all that is wrong with the country in the present moment, and an effort to balance these wrongs with what has been, and may still be, right with it. I realize that even suggesting America may have positive qualities may strike some as inappropriate in the current context. Yet creating a better world means keeping sight of the good wherever it is to be found, towards the goal of maximizing its influence. We cannot do this if we do not make an effort to look for it. This is my attempt to do so.
Read the full article here.