7-2-25

BRING FORTH THE FOURTH

I don’t know about you but Friday is one of my favorite holidays……as a kid Christmas was always front and center as the best holiday of them all……but it was a close race for me between Easter and the 4th of July……truthfully, as a kid I didn’t really get the importance yet of Easter, but I was all in for the Easter baskets and candy…..but having to dress up in my newest Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and comb my unruly hair took some of the shine off of that…..so looking back it may well be that the 4th of July had the higher overall ranking…..I’ve lived in other countries…..I’ve seen patriotic celebrations and days set aside in other places to honor their own nations…..but in my opinion nobody celebrates their own patriotism like the US of A…….I mean what was not to like……hot dogs, flags waving, bands playing……..and fireworks! Oh man, I love fireworks……think about it…..a knothead kid like me could run around in shorts and a t-shirt, stay out past dark, eat junk food and blow stuff up!......it was layer upon layer of the best life had to offer for a knothead kid……Patriotism, friends, food and explosives……I have some distinct memories of the 4th of July…..when I was younger (and some of ya’ll can probably relate to this) we would go through south Huntsville and across the Tennessee River bridge to the area that we used to call “gasoline alley”……that was where all of the fireworks stands were set up……apparently there’s an entire cottage industry of pop-up fireworks stands that folks do every day…..Dad would give us $10 and if we had any of our allowance left we could add to it and we would hit the stands and buy the fireworks of our choice…… sparklers were just warm-ups and sort of for the little kids……once we were old enough to strike a match it was a new day…..and we bought all we could squeeze into a $10 dollar bill……smoke bombs were good for playing Army with my friends, snap pops were good for gags, and lady fingers were what you got when you were running out of money……. Black Cat firecrackers and bottle rockets were a mainstay…..and we were always on the hunt just in case any of the stands had any bootleg M80’s or cherry bombs which were on the way out of favor because they were just a tad edgy if you know what I mean……..we would buy some and compare notes…..there was always that one fireworks stand that would try to undercut the others by giving away a pack of bottle rockets or punks if you spent $10……..and then it was fun time!......admit it, how many of you blew up a coke bottle, or tried to tie a toy army soldier with a handkerchief parachute to a rocket (never really worked)……and of course there was always the attempt to thread fuses together to get multiple blasts out of one lighting…….for a period of time we lived on post on Redstone Arsenal……maybe it was my age at the time, or maybe we just had a rowdier bunch of knothead kids in the neighborhood then…..but I can remember out on Skinner Drive in the residence section of Redstone having bottle rocket wars in the street until someone would call the MP’s and we would have to run hide in the woods….the MP’s would flash their lights, and then they would laugh themselves and leave…..we would wait five minutes and commence the bottle rocket wars again……

As I got older I still carried my love for fireworks……Charlene doesn’t get it….she asks me every time I buy fireworks why I do that…..it’s like spending money on something that is literally going to burn…..yep! and I love it……but I also know that I have developed a much fonder appreciation for the holiday…..sort of like realizing that Easter has a deeper and more profound meaning that really impacts my life……I have learned that the 4th of July carries such a deeper and more profound meaning itself……the flags still wave, the hot dogs are still good, I love seeing family and friends, but there is a difference now……now it feels more like a privilege, like a holiday but with a true sentiment attached to it, the sense that it is not just about gathering…….And I still love fireworks and especially the displays…..I previously served on the Board of the Gadsden/Etowah County Patriots Association and helped to sponsor major annual fireworks displays over the Coosa River……I once sat on a boat in the Coosa River and literally had to look straight up into the explosions and had the debris rain down on me and it was great!……I remember major public fireworks displays at Milton-Frank Stadium in Huntsville as a kid…….or over the USS Alabama at Battleship Park in Mobile…..but of all the displays I’ve seen over the years none of them could hold a candle to the best one I ever saw on the Washington Mall……it was the best for a variety of reasons….the location, the quality, but also the sense that it was the epicenter of allthat the 4th of July was designed to celebrate……the greatnessof America….the vastness of our blessing…..the depth of what is worth defending……I was assigned to duty at the Pentagon at the time and it was announced that Pentagon families could bring their lawn chairs and coolers and be given access to what is known as the Pentagon parade field…..a large double-football-field sized flat grassy area that looks straight across at the Washington Monument…….my son was off at college at the time but Charlene and I and our daughter Caitlin got to sit there on the freshly cut grass on the side of the Pentagon….a building that at that time was still under renovations after the damage inflicted by the attack on 9/11…..and we joined with so many others and watched in awe as beautiful bright-light explosive displays illuminated the Washington Monument against the night sky with every fiery color known to man …..it was epic, it was visually stunning, and it was actually very moving…..

As we move into this July 4th of 2024 I hope that you will get some time with family or friends…..I hope that there is a hotdog and a cold drink for you……I hope that you get to laugh and enjoy it all….and I hope that there are fireworks……but more than anything teach the kids that this is not just a holiday for knothead kids to run around, eat junk food, and blow things up…..be intentional about the 4th of July…..teach the next generation that we stand for the anthem with our hands over our heart and hats off…..teach the kids that this holiday is a blessing because we live in the United States of America….a nation that has been a blessing to so many…..the biggest dog on the international block and the freest country known to history……tell them that the 4th of July is the day that we celebrate independence…..and that independence means sacrifice…and that sacrifice means commitment…..and that commitment means honor……..

Tell them that the world may be a scary place but America is the land of heroes…..Tell them stories about great leaders, and soldiers and accomplishments and inventions that came from America that made the whole world a better place……tell them that the United States of America should be loved, protected, served and treasured….tell the kids that its okay to believe they live in the greatest country…..tell them that its okay to say “God Bless America” because He has, and He will, if we let Him……

Tell them the 4th of July is a really big deal……And then tell them to be careful with those Black Cat firecrackers and to have a good time…….

And tell them that things are looking up….that we are turning a corner….that faith, and patriotism, and honor, and morality, and common sense are all making a comeback…..that taxes are going to be lower, morale is going to be higher, and that more people are joining are amazing military than ever before…..tell your kids and grandkids that they live in the greatest nation God ever allowed to exist on the face of the earth…..and that they have no reason to apologize for being American….that the reason why we have had problems with illegal immigration is really, in part, because so much of the world still sees us as a land of opportunity…..tell you kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews, friends down the block, your in-laws and outlaws, that we have rights….actual rights…..not just privileges, or opportunities, but rights…..rights enshrined in our Constitution and its various amendments that afford them the right to speak, the right to worship, the right to assemble, the right to bear arms, and so much more….and they have it all because of the men and women who fought and sacrificed so that this great nation would not perish from the face of the earth…..tell them that as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west that they have freedom…..and that not everyone else in the world can say that…..because this is the by-God United States of America…..and the 4thof July is more than just our birthday, it is our birth right, our heritage, and our legacy to the world…..

So, yes…..bring forth the Fourth, I say!.....celebrate, but remember why you celebrate……God bless ya’ll…..and God Bless America….the folks here at Rightside Media wish you the absolute best of times

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way