What Independence Day means to me

Freedom of thought, word and deed is a gift too few of us reflect upon often enough. We tend to take for granted the rights extended to us through our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We forget how few countries and their people are afforded the opportunities of free speech without reprisal and the freedom to move about without government interference.

Returning from a recent trip to Washington D.C. , Philadelphia , New York and Boston , then Sacramento and finally home, I found myself in complete awe of our history, the nation’s founders and its planners. I’ve been to all of these places at different times and for different reasons, but never to each of these places in succession as in that recent adventure. And never just to observe, without purpose. What a delightful experience.

The majesty of the U.S. Capital, the Mall and its surrounding memorials to leaders, warriors, scholars, judges and statesmen, is without peer. Being treated to the spring bloom of hundreds, if not thousands of Cherry trees accenting the buildings, walks, sculptures and statues, was a reminder that without the constant ebb and flow of nature, our edifices would be without heart.

Watching the streams of eager children, parents and grandparents pouring themselves into waiting lines of long duration to view the many treasures held within the walls of our capitol buildings and museums, assured me that our country has a soul.

Walking through the streets of old Philadelphia was like being in an open-air church, with the ghosts of our fore-fathers in every doorway, stairwell, bench and park. Washington held his inaugural ball here, Paul Revere dined there, Benjamin Franklin orated here, printed his Poor Richard’s Almanac there, his newspaper in yet another place and invented the Franklin stove just around the corner. Thomas Jefferson scribbled, scratched out, wrote and rewrote the words of the Declaration of Independence and John Adams, wrote the Constitution here.

This is truly hallowed ground, and I am as they were, with an inalienable right to be free. But, there is one tremendous difference. My right to be free was given to me. The founders forged and fought for their right to be free. I was humbled by the thought.

My first glimpse of New York ’s “Ground Zero” was both wrenching and awesome. How can this unbelievable cavern of death be all that remains of the two tallest and most grand symbols of American prosperity?   Remembering that I once dined in the “Windows of the World” restaurant in Tower One, looking down upon Manhattan and the Empire State Building as if flying, I was stunned and silent. Yet, when I looked around, I saw smiling faces, windows with signs stating the return of this restaurant, that shoe store, the clothing store across the street.

The resilience of the human body and mind is amazing. The strength of the American spirit is nothing short of heroic.

Ambling through Boston ’s Public Gardens , up into Beacon Hill’s Louisburg Square , over to the Capitol buildings and down to Feneuel Hall and North Church , the Freedom Trail begins to tell its story of the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the shadow of Bunker Hill , rests the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy, “Old Ironsides”, the USS Constitution. On this waterfront, the declaration of “no taxation without representation” during the Boston Tea Party, was the seedling of our country’s battle for independence. Not far away in Concord , the “shot that was heard around the world” began the long and bloody struggle of liberty for us all.

Sacramento , the capitol of California , and home of the rulers of the world’s fifth largest economy, strikes me as an anomaly. There are no magnificent marble structures. The Capitol building is relatively small in comparison to many others throughout the nation, yet California is poised to surpass Great Britain ’s economy to become fourth in the world very soon. The scene bares witness to the fact that one cannot judge a book by its cover.

As I viewed the remaining touch-up work continuing on the repair of the Capitol’s front façade where the crazed truck bomber attempted to demolish the building, I was reminded how strong yet fragile our freedom has become during these very trying times of the terrorist challenges to our way of life. I pledged to myself that I will never become complacent, nor take my freedom for granted.

Nothing reflects the indifference American citizens seem to have of appreciation for our privileges of living in a free society, more than the low voter turn-out in our local, state and federal elections. Minimal participation in our local government other than complaining to neighbors reaps the kind of non-responsive government we have grown to accept. How very sad this is during a time when people are being killed every day to gain the right of freedom we are born into.

On this Independence Day, I urge one and all to thank our maker for allowing us to enter the world in a country that is still sending its young Heroes to distant places in the world defending our freedom and attempting to open the door of the freedoms we enjoy for the millions of oppressed and starving people throughout the world.

I will celebrate and reflect on how lucky I am. Please do the same.

Bill Effinger

©2005