It's good to be free

Today I am going to drift from my usual gripes about my love life, ex's, job and such. Yesterday was the 4th of July. Already!?! Where the hell did this year go? Where the hell have I been? Anyway, yesterday I went to my dads house and hung out with him and my step mom and we had a BBQ, swam in the pool and played darts (actually the pool and the darts went had in hand and I won again, but only by the sheerest of luck. It was a hell of a game tho) Anyway, after hanging around the house and doing our thing we headed down the street to the local mall that put on a fireworks display. It was actually quite beautiful. Watching the show, I couldn't help but wonder how many people around me took the time to really remember what this day is all about. Do they just think of it as another day off? An extended weekend? How many people really stop and appreciate the day for what it is for? Now, I will admit that I didn't sit there all day and give thanks to those that made it, and still make it, possible for me to sit in a parking lot with 200 - 300 other people and enjoy a fireworks show without having to worry about being bombed or killed by a suicide bomber or anything like that, but seeing the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air and knowing than in the morning our flag will still be there never fails to choke me up. There are so many things that we as Americans take for granted and trust me, I am one of them. I guess you really don't know what you've got till its gone and most of us have been fortunate enough not to have ever had to live without them. I feel a deep appreciation to the people that have given, risked and changes their lives so that I could live mine the way I do. Not just the people in my lifetime, but to those hundreds of years ago who fought for their beliefs because that still enables me to have mine. I look back on the other stuff that I have blogged about and it seems so trivial and yet I know that soon, those things will consume my life again. The point of this is that I am and always will be proud to me an American. Sure America has its problems and there are those who protest the USA and even some of those who wish to destroy it. Do you know why they are able to? Because of America. To me America is like a Far Side cartoon that I love. Satan is in hell standing next to a guy facing two doors. Satan looks at the guy and says "C'mon, cmon. It's either one or the other". One door is labeled dammed if you do and the other is labeled dammed if you don't. This country will never be able to please everyone; it has been that way from the start, but it's a damn fine place to be and hell of a lot better than a lot of other places in this world. God bless America. it's good to be free.