Happy 4th of July: Celebrating Our Country

Our national birthday is the 4th of July!

• Do you gather family for reunions?

• When do you begin planning your 4th of July celebration?

• Do you get with family or friends for a special time of fun and games?

• Do you go with family and friends to a community event?

• What special foods do you cook and serve?

Most importantly...

• Do you set aside time to discuss something important regarding our history or current events during your 4th of July celebration?

You can begin planning now to make that a part of your next fourth of July get together!

With America’s birthday coming up I began looking for 4^th of July clothing to give to my grandchildren. At first I was just looking wherever I was shopping, keeping the idea of buying patriotic clothing for them in the back of my mind.

Not finding anything I wanted, I began stopping at a few stores I don’t usually frequent thinking I could check for those items. I was amazed at what was available!

Stunned to find absolutely nothing for them, not even our country’s colors, much less anything with "USA" in our local stores I started wondering,“What’s up with this?” Needless to say I began looking more earnestly and wound up on the internet where I did find the clothing and other items I wanted for this national holiday.

What I did not find in the stores was upsetting, but what I did find was just as disturbing. While it was zilch on the USA, there were plenty of peace symbol designs available in every color except red, white, and blue.

The flag is America's national symbol and its colors are our primary summer colors. Something was off...something was odd about what was not for sale.

Lest anyone suspect that I am not in favor of peace, let me make it clear that I heartily approve of it. I talk about it and write about it with the intention of promoting peace and as a means of helping to protect it.

I understand, though, that history, if not common sense, teaches us that peace does not come to people in socialistic societies any more than peace comes by giving in to terrorists' demands.

We are in a war against socialism, and hopefully--prayerfully--that war will be won with words. We must win with the right words if we are to prevent any one from thinking that there is a need for any other method.

As with the war on terrorism, we must fight this war because we are up against enemies that would destroy us. No amount of negotiating with terrorists wins in physical combat or in philosophical wars, but at this point we can use words to fight socialism.

For now, however, my intent is to advocate for our country, our flag, and our national holidays because we have let an evolution take place. There’s been a subtle move against our traditional holidays and we’ve allowed it by not paying attention.

In previous hubs I’ve mentioned the need to hold on to our Thanksgiving in the face of efforts to neglect its history in our schools and media. It looks like it would be a good idea to give our 4th some careful scrutiny.

If we don’t start paying attention by paying for that which will promote our country, we will be paying dearly with more than regret. It isn’t that I think buying an American flag tee shirt will solve our problems.

Far more than that sort of business is required. The business we need to be about reaches into our family time, our schools and town halls, into our national legislatures, and on into coming elections.

Give peace a chance? I’m all for it, but peace for our country won’t have the chance of a lamb against a lion if our traditions are destroyed by those who promote socialism and support terrorism with our hard-earned dollars.

We will not be able to help ourselves, much less be able to continue helping other countries that are under dictatorial regimes if the tide against the 4th of July is not turned.

Celebrate the 4^th of July in every way possible. Start early and let your celebration of our country run into your neighborhoods and workplaces. Make sure your family has the opportunity to do more than have a good time on the day off.

Be a leader! Lead in sharing something of our history with those you are with, and most of all, be a leader in praying for our country if you are a Christian.

We are providing our grandchildren with gifts that will give them a chance to learn more about patriotism and show their appreciation for our military who are in harms way on behalf of our country.

We found super sales for patriotic clothing at The Children’s Place website and wound up buying a newborn Little Firecracker shirt, a 12 month American Sweetie shirt, then a 4t and a 18 month 4^th of July shirt. Fun stuff to share with them!

A modern way to send a greeting to grandchildren that do not live nearby is to buy downloadable music for them. Amazon has Cedarmont Kids’ Songs of America which consists of my parents and grandparents childhood songs, including patriotic soundtracks that are perfect for our -- hold on -- stop everything.

I just looked at my computer’s thesaurus for a word to use in place of “patriotic” and have decided to divert your attention a bit because it serves the important issues addressed in this hub so well.

A Side Note on the Word Patriotic

The 5^th synonym listed for "patriotic" is the word chauvinistic. I’m not even going to use an exclamation point because that speaks for itself. Then, a “Word Note” chosen to go below the thesaurus entry basically accuses anyone using the word patriotic of being charged with emotional baggage.

I was sickened to see that it ends with the following statement, “Whatever the case, patriotic and unpatriotic are always fighting words, and usually bullying ones too.”

• Would you call me a bully for wanting to instill gratitude in my grandchildren for their national legacy?

• Are you ready to speak up with your voice, your vote, and your dollars for not just your right but your responsibility to your country’s heritage?

• How long will we allow ourselves to be equated with extremists simply because we want to honor our country’s history before we say no more?

While every country has issues they are not proud of, it doesn’t matter what country a person lives in, they have a responsibility to be loyal to their own people’s efforts to build a nation and stand for what is good and right to the best of their ability.

Americans should certainly do no less, but we have allowed our heritage to be discredited for so long now that we hardly bat an eye when we see the proof in print or hear it from platforms.

Okay. Back to what I began writing about. If you are inclined to take some small action to highlight the 4th of July, take a look at our other choices for our grandchildren’s gifts in the Amazon capsule.

We needed items for young children but you can quick-search sites for items that will let you share a patriotic spirit with your family and friends of all ages. The right stuff for your family picnic, neighborhood party, or church’s 4^th of July celebration is out there.

Do us all a favor and leave a note in the comments section if you find specific stores selling items that will help us celebrate our nation's birthday. We should stimulate the selling of patriotic products for the 4th of July where ever they can be found, even if that simply means letting stores know we are interested in red, white, and blue merchandise.

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Happy Fourth of July to you if you are an American or if you have been the recipient of America's graciousness!

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