This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorization. Flovent for cats Laboratory and/or medical tests (such as lung function tests, eye exams, bone density tests, cortisol levels) should be performed periodically to monitor your progress or check for side effects. Immediate and delayed hypersensitivity reaction(including very rare anaphylactic reaction). Advair instructions This website is funded and developed by GSK.


Is the 4th of July a holiday, holy day or day of shame? All three were communicated by media, email, Facebook, and TV to me today. TV mostly praised the day as a holy day honoring those who killed or died for our country in wars. A few shared with me by email or Facebook an article called “I’m glad to be an American. But I won’t really celebrate the Fourth of July” which points out how pacifist groups, like Quakers and Mennonites, would not participate in the Revolutionary war and how the author’s allegiance to America is a very distant second to that of a different sort of Kingdom altogether, the Kingdom which Jesus came to establish. “For the Kingdom which Jesus came to establish is fundamentally not of this world. It is marked by peace among people of all nationalities, and a freedom guaranteed not by declaration and war but by the work of Christ.” Another person sent me an article about the Fourth of July by the late historian Howard Zinn, someone I listened to. The article, posted July 4, 2010 is Put Away The Flags. He argues from history how we have been “brought up to see our nation as different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral, expanding into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy.” He points to history to show how this is very great deception. One of the most interesting pieces sent to me was a speech given by Frederick Douglass, on July 5, 1852 called What to the slave is the Fourth of July?.

Despite all the variety of opinions about the meaning of the Fourth of July it was just an ordinary day for Pat and me. The weather was sunny and nice and we went with a friend fishing on a pier on Lake Michigan. We saw some fish, small and big in the water but caught nothing, which was okay. We were there to enjoy the day. After a wonderful dinner, featuring Pat’s homemade meat loaf and homemade banana bread we enjoyed a night of watching on TV the Brewers baseball team win again while reading and using our laptop computers. It was a simple, good day and night of not doing much but being present. On one of my phone calls I received today a friend pointed out that “doing nothing” is okay.

I have learned this lesson before but needed the reminder.
So on this Fourth of July when waging war and ‘American Exceptionalism’ is honored, some would say worshiped, doing nothing special is a good way to celebrate the Fourth.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.

back to top

   Login 

Page last modified on July 05, 2015

Legal Information |  Designed and built by Wiki Gnome  | Hosted by Fluid Hosting  | Icons courtesy of famfamfam