The Old Guy: On America, and celebrating, in 2020 – SILive.com

Bill Pullmans speech, in part from Independence Day:

Mankind. That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live. To exist.

It was a good day. Bright and shiny, like a dime. Joan and I got to play music for two hours outside, fully masked, with our friends Russ and Ali. Then, it was time to go home. All of the supermarkets we usually go to where closed. Joan offered to make me a special meal and I went upstairs to write.

And, I started thinking about Independence Day. This year. 2020. A guy that works at a local deli told me it would be the last one we would celebrate and that, after this year, there would be a new world order. I was pretty sure he wasnt referring to an 80s band. He was referring to a different New World Order.

Its always easier to blame the state of the world on outside forces and things beyond our control. Im always amazed at how willing we are to cede over our responsibilities to ourselves and others to some mystical power or cabal. Every human interaction we have changes the world in sometimes infinitesimal ways.

A couple of years ago, Joan and I walked over to Front Street to view the fireworks. There was limited space and we couldnt really see anything because Urby, which had been recently erected, blocked a vast amount of the skyline. I usually like fireworks, but this year, Im not feeling it. That, plus the fact that weve heard them every night since June, took the polish off the apple.

The President had an event at Mount Rushmore the day before. Hundreds of people crammed together without masks, proclaiming their freedom, while putting themselves and their loved ones at risk for contracting a virus. A lot of folks stayed home and watched Hamilton after forking over $12.99 for the Disney+ channel.

Joan and I watched TV. We binged Cougar Town and Bobs Burgers, because thats just how we roll now. We watch documentaries and comedies. We try to stay away from the news because its just too dammed depressing. As Paul Simon once sang : I gather all the news I need from the weather report.

Im thinking about kids who were separated from their parents, still in cages, still not receiving proper care. Im thinking about inmates in prisons, a perfect storm for CV19 contagion. Im thinking about Elijah McClain, a young man who loved playing violin, who was placed in a chokehold and eventually died. Im thinking about an entire race of people that leave their houses every day and dont know whether theyre going to return.

David Bowie sings in my head: This is not America/ This is not/ Sha-nah-nah-nah-nah. This year, Im having a really difficult time reconciling explosions in the sky that sound like bombs and John Wayne and Mount Rushmore and Native American land and willful ignorance and any reason to celebrate.

Id like to. Id like to believe that we are one nation, indivisible, where all people are created equal and all of us share equal access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Im just not sure that that is, indeed, the case. And so, I ask the question again: What are we celebrating today? Is it the dream? Is it the reality? Because they are definitely not in synch with each other.

Lets start with the idea of civil rights. Lets go back to that idea of life, liberty and happiness as a right, not a privilege. Dont we all deserve that?

Then, why dont we all have it? And who gets to decide who gets to participate in the American dream and who doesnt?

I got into an ongoing argument online with some friends who want certain films and songs to be expunged from the face of the Earth because they find them offensive and give a very skewered picture of life, usually from a male perspective.

My problem is this: censorship in any form, for whatever the reason, good or bad is still censorship. Somebody is not going to see or read or hear something because somebody else decided it might be bad for them. Remember when you were told not to read A Catcher In The Rye because the lead character was amoral, or listen to I Want To Hold Your Hand because of that and when I touch you line or view The Last Temptation Of Christ because it was going to destroy your faith? How did that make you feel? Were all grown-ups here. We get to pick and choose what we want to read and watch and listen to, otherwise we wind up becoming those other folks that were not too fond of.

So, again, what are we celebrating? Maybe its enough that were a little more than halfway through one of the worst years this country has ever experienced. Its like every bad thing that ever happened to us happening all at once.

But, I have hope. I have to. Its the only way out of this darkness. And though my candle is small and will not last the night, its light can get me a little further down the road and towards the greater light beyond.

Hope your fourth was safe and happy. Hold those grey heads up!

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The Old Guy: On America, and celebrating, in 2020 - SILive.com