Red White And Blue

I don't have enormous plans for the fourth. I do know that this is the very first fourth since I've been a mommy that my children will not be with me. My youngest is on the Coast with my mommy and daddy and my eldest is spending the weekend with his girlfriend and her family. So, I'm alone. Being alone reminds me of that poem of the lone rider that brought the message that most of us associate with our independence day.

I'm sure you know the one where the man rides his horse to announce the coming of something rather important.

"A cry of defiance, and not of fear—
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forever-more;
For borne on the night wind of the past,
Through all our history to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof beats of that steed, "

Long before that night, our nation had been conceived. In pubs and taverns, farmhouses and churches, town halls and public squares...whisperings of what's not fair and change that's needed. Lines were drawn and divisions were born. Loyalists and Patriots, Liberals and Conservatives, the haves and have nots...time has not changed those attitudes, they're still present today.

Generations of contempt have been born. The divisions are too deeply embedded. Differences can not be put aside even for a day. But let's pretend anyway. Fire up the grill, slap on the steaks. Fly the flag and pop the works. Beat your chests and shed that single tear. Smile and be polite have no fear. Kiss and hug your family tight, forget about that fight.