"O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain…for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain…………. America! America!"

Tomorrow around noon I will gather with family and friends for the annual 4th of July parade in a small town in northern Wisconsin. It is a tradition, one we’ve had for many years.  The small area of the parade route where we gather has seen, in my memory, at least two generations of children grow up and another is about to be added any day now. We watch pretty much the same entries every year and would be disappointed if they did not show. It is one of those traditions that everyone….all ages…wants to remain exactly as it is. Only we have changed…growing up…growing older.

This is not a parade with marching bands or fancy floats. The people who watch along the road, for the most part, do not live in the town. They are "weekend people", "lake people", "up-North people", those who travel several hours to live in a simpler way, at a slower pace, if only for a few days every summer.

What brings us all together is what will bring millions of people together on this day…..a love of this country and a desire to celebrate it and what it means to us.  When I look at the parade audience tomorrow there will be people from all over this country, those who think differently about this country, those who agree with its politics, those who don’t, those of great economic means and those with less, those who have traveled from "sea to shining sea" and those who have not seen much of our country at all.

The point when we all come together happens at the beginning of the parade. After the singing of the National Anthem the parade starts with the color guard of soldiers from wars past,carrying flags. Each year there are fewer of one generation, additions from another. No matter our feelings about the current war, we stand in honor of those soldiers…… those who have seen things we hope to never see, those who have been placed in situations we hope to never be in or to have our children in. We stand out of respect for their lives and to witness to their living.

"O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years……thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self control, they liberty in law."

Independence Day provides us with the opportunity to celebrate what we love about this country, flaws and all. The beauty of the land, the fragility of the people, the hope of generations past and the promise of those to come…….America!  America!

***Note….I will be back writing on Monday when I return from "up-north". Happy 4th of July!