If I can be completely honest, (and I'm going to be because who's going to stop me?) I simply hate Independence Day. Not the movie, not the idealism behind the patriotism, but the day. Many Americans have forgotten that on July 4, 1776 the colonial states of America (as they were so called then) declared themselves Independent from Great Britain, in an effort to achieve self-governance. Yet, the very nation that America declared Independence from did not recognize it until 1783. A good seven years after. Americans in this time frame also don't realize that the Continental Army was created on June 14, 1775, slightly more than a year before declaring Independence.
I don't really like how Independence Day has evolved since this tumultuous time. I don't really like how a lot of our military holidays have come about due to tragic times. Independence Day, Veteran's Day, and I think now even 9/11 is considered some sort of holiday now. And if it isn't, I'm sure it will be soon. Okay, I get it, we're Americans, and we like to bloat everything up, because we like to think of ourselves as a powerful and wealthy nation. Which, when compared to the entirety of earth... we are. I get that Americans like to eat and blow shit up. Hell, I think as a nation, eating, blowing shit up, and killing people are still the three things we do best. What I don't get is how such an important day like our nation's Independence Day, has become what it is.
Mind you, it's not a bad thing, it's just weird. We have Bar-be-ques, we mess with fireworks, because nothing says a land of freedom than blasting a small piece of it apart. And in my family, in years past, we have the traditional family argument, which happens every Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have movies that celebrate Independence Day, even those with Will Smith in it, that really has nothing to do with our actual Independence Day, and it was really a marketing decision by the Director and Writers. If the movie was called like... Arbor Day, or Labor Day... no one would have seen it. They would have been like, "What Canadian Boxer's Day? Get the fuck out of here." The movie is too cliche now, and I wish they would stop showing it. I mean, the movie's good... but they keep cramming it down our throats.
I don't like how people are ignorant of the facts behind the importance of Independence Day, but I hate even more how it's really just an excuse to take a day off from work. I've been out of work for more than a year. I've been looking for any kind of a job since April 2012. I would kill for a job right now, and to be able to work on any day of the year. While I was in the Army, and yes... I've been in combat zones, and I've had to use my weapon on several occasions, I didn't get Independence Day off. I didn't get Christmas off, I didn't get anything. People who have never been in a combat zone, who speak about the pride and sacrifice that Americans have made, tend to irk me, when they speak to me as if they know more than me. I have been there. Why do non-militants always puff themselves up with false patriotism on this day, and then act like their usual douchebag selves until the next holiday? I don't get it.
Oh, and the fireworks. I'm sure some people can agree with me, those brothers and sisters in arms especially. We just don't like fireworks. For me, it reminds me of the sounds of combat. It triggers those memories that we want to forget. I'm not very comfortable around fireworks, though I always like to try to conquer my discomfort and fear of them. Sometimes I succeed, until the next year, sometimes I don't. What's even more annoying is when you have to listen to them on the day before. What's up with that? And they're always the type of fireworks where you hear like a hundred popping noises, which makes you think of the rapid fire of guns, but no one ever cares to ensure that the neighborhood you live in is okay with it, because of faux patriotism. The last thing I need to hear is gunshot-like fireworks when I'm trying to sleep.
I've been out of the Army for four years now. But I still have nightmares about my time in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa near Somalia. I feel that the antics of Today's Fourth of July is just America wallowing in its once prestigious and honored past. Now we have people more involved in the Jersey Shore, than we do with real topics, like our economy, our unemployment rate, who's gay and who's straight. We have fucked up priorities. And maybe, because I've never really had a "good" Fourth of July, I might be bitter, but I don't think that devalues my thoughts on this mostly waste of a Holiday.
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