That's America to me

Last night we watched Clearwater's local show and fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July. "I love Fireworks!" Screamed Jonah when they started. Noah jumped up and down doing hand motions as if he were creating the display. It started raining so we got under our little picnic blanket to watch.
Previously I think the kids thought we were just there for the little concert and the lightning show that was happening.
The orchestra was called "The Mostly Pops." which was funny to us because we are from Boston. They also have a touristy show at the beach, but we thought the local one would be better for the kids. And certainly comparing it with Boston it was. It was earlier, there were less people and it was just less crazy. It really had that local flavor that a great production lacks. What I mean is the singers weren't great and you could hear the mistakes and all that, but the general good feeling of the audience carried everything through. It doesn't really matter if the show is good. It matters that there is a show. And I suppose it mattered that the fireworks were good and close.
In fact, during one of the songs, Sinatra's, "The House I live in" I was almost in tears of extreme patriotic feeling.
I once heard someone say on the radio that the 4th of July is like Christmas in July.
When you grow up, and you watch the news about illegal immigrants being herded and penned, even if you don't watch the whole story, it's difficult to listen to "We're coming to America" without a grain (or bucketful) of salt. After learning about various things our government does and did, about the lynchings and shootings, slavery, and discrimination, and wars for interests that might not be for the greater good, it is difficult to return to your childhood, where after hours of watching Saturday Morning Rambo cartoons and GI Joe, you got a sense that America was the light of the world, like Superman, out to do good selflessly. I mean I basically believed that as a kid even though I lived in the projects. In fact, something tells me, when you are poor, the ideals and DREAMS of America might be that much stronger, to make up for the lack of that dream you see in reality. (Though truth be told, I can't really see anything I lacked in childhood. And again, I attributed that to the greatness of America.)

Anyway, Sinatra's song, which I had heard before of course, wiped away all that in one strong sweep of a magic hand, or wand. Why? Except for the few lines about ideals like democracy and freedom of speech, that song could have been about any country. Well, any relatively stable country, except North Korea. It's the People and the community that is your country. Your small little life and the people you meet. And then on top of that, the IDEA and for the most part the "Right to speak your mind out." And when the reality falls short of the dream and ideals of these rights, that doesn't make the ideals wrong.

Do I like that we have drones that strike and kill (perhaps not "innocent") but very young children and kill them? Do I like everything our government does even if you give the benefit of the doubt and assume that somehow someway they have the best intentions in mind? Of course not.

And flip that around. Assume that what they do is just evil and sick and for all the wrong reasons. But guess what? America is US. Most of all the People. All races and Religions. And yeah that includes illegal immigrants. Because who came here "legally"? A very small portion of the population, that were eventually driven off their land and killed in genocidal numbers. And They are patriotic. Because Ideals and Dreams are different than practical reality and policy. Yeah there was the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it didn't end until World War II but that doesn't mean that you can't believe in an American Utopia that you and your community is wholly a part of.
In your Dreams and Ideals you don't have to worry about labels like THE MAN, The one percent, class warfare, political parties, factions, policy, racism......   In reality you have to worry about these things. To make dreams a reality you have to deal with these things. But in your dreams and your Ideals, you don't have to worry about those. You can just imagine a utopia that is already there, even if you have never fully seen it. Because if you look at just certain aspects of life, just everyday life, that Utopia, in a small day to day way, is already there for a lot of us. The dream is to have that for all of us.

Even the short film this is from has some issues. It constantly uses the word, "Jap" and doesn't really seem to include the races that aren't white. But as problematic as the film may be, the song and the Ideals are still strong. After all Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. But Martin Luther King still used his words as a rallying cry for the Civil Rights Movement.

 The past was the past, and despite negative truths you can still believe in a dream of the future that is bright and positive. And it gives you strength to hear those ideals from songs and Declarations from the past.