July 02, 2004
Forthajewlie
I've got nothing better to blog about tonight, so I figured I'd bitch a little. As I was leaving work today, one of my coworkers told me to "Have a Happy Fourth!" Although I appreciate the sentiment, I told him that I do not celebrate the "forthajewlie". He kind of looked at me funny for a few seconds, so I figured I'd clarify things for him. "I don't celebrate the "Fourth", I celebrate "Independence Day."
I don't think he understood what my problem was, and just went on with his life. Not a problem. I just have an issue with people not recognising the holiday by its proper name. The only other national holiday that springs to mind that might even remotely have this problem is Christmas. It always falls on the same day of the year like Independence Day, but you rarely hear someone say "Merry Twenty-Fifth".
I'm tired as hell of hearing people say "Happy Fourth". Just don't do it. It does not pay proper homage to the spirit of the day. We celebrate it on the fourth due to the fact that it was on that day in 1776 when twelve of the original thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence. New York finally followed suit on the 19th of July, but most everybody who considered themselves "Americans" had decided that they were no longer going to take any shit from Great Britain, and hang out a shingle for themselves. That's the point.
The calendar date only has signifigance because of what happened, not the other way around. Keep this in mind as you go through your holiday weekend. Remember the courage it took for a few people interested in freedom to go against an Empire. Be mindful of the Founding Fathers, and thier vision of what a country should be. Whether you can trace your heritage back to Benjamin Franklin, or just became a citizen last week, you should always remember what happened and why on Independence Day.
Postscript: I figured that I would share with you a part of my living room. I had recently gone into storage, and relocated my finest wall covering.
It's a daily reminder of what is important. Through it all, I'm still free.
Posted by Johnny - Oh at July 2, 2004 09:40 PMJust a theory, but maybe people use "Fourth" because it's shorter - like a nickname. "Independence Day" is a clunky 4 syllables. I use it anyway, but I can sort of understand the urge to shorten.
And I may start using "Happy 25th" this next holiday season :-)
Posted by: Harvey at July 3, 2004 02:49 PM"In-dep-end-ence Day....In-d'pen-dence Day.." How many syllables is it meant to have? Four or five? I need to know for when we (hopefully) move to the U.S
Posted by: Sally at July 3, 2004 03:45 PMGet him Sally! Make him count out the syllables between the quotations. I believe you nailed it with 5. :-)
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at July 3, 2004 04:18 PMOk, it's 5.
Crap. I need to start watching Sesame Street again :-)
Posted by: Harvey at July 5, 2004 11:26 AM