I am grateful to the Haters of America for putting their new Independence Day in June.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always loved July as the finest time of the year.\u00a0 And not just because my birthday is slap dab in the middle of it or because it is the hottest and therefore the time when we in the north feel most vitally alive.<\/p>\n
But also, because the Fourth of July was every young boy\u2019s idea of the perfect holiday.\u00a0 You had it right in the middle of your summer vacation (back then we had all of June, July and August off).\u00a0 It included playing with and watching fireworks, eating huge amounts of barbecued food, corn on the cob and watermelon and drinking lemonade.\u00a0 We would go down to Coney Island and swim in the polluted waters of Lower New York Harbor and then watch the fireworks display that the city put on for us proles.\u00a0 It was a mighty fine time to be had by all and sundry.\u00a0 I can remember neighbors that typically spent most of the year yelling at their neighbors\u2019 kids coming out and sitting on their porches and stoops and talking about the weather and the baseball teams and acting almost human.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t really think about the patriotic aspect of it.\u00a0 After all we were boys and therefore barely human.\u00a0 But I am grateful to the Cloud People and Antifa and BLM and the illegal immigrant lobby and the LGBTQ Mafia and everyone else who hates the normal everyday things that America stood for.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful that I no longer have to share the Fourth of July with them.<\/p>\n
And of course, the Fourth of July stands for more than just fireworks and hot dogs.\u00a0 But I wanted to start out with those things because they are the things that make it more than just important.\u00a0 They make it fun.\u00a0 And heaven knows we need as many things that can make us happy right now as we can get.\u00a0 I\u2019m having the family over for a Fourth of July barbecue and the weather isn\u2019t going to cooperate.\u00a0 After days of 90\u00b0 weather, it\u2019s going to be in the 60\u2019s and cloudy.\u00a0 But that just means we\u2019ll be able to have a baseball catch and play horseshoes without getting completely drenched in sweat.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to have a great time.\u00a0 After the barbecue I know Camera Girl will have desserts, splendiferous desserts.\u00a0 Ice cream and whipped cream will abound.\u00a0 And there will be Italian Cheesecake and maybe even pastries.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll show my little 2 \u00bd year old granddaughter fireflies in the yard for her first time.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll even shoot off a few small fireworks and then maybe watch some of the big stuff in the sky.<\/p>\n
And I guarantee there will be not a whisper of white privilege or white rage or reparations or Juneteenth or Critical Race Theory.\u00a0 But there will be a little history lesson where I\u2019ll find out if the boys all know what the Fourth of July commemorates.<\/p>\n
And just to end this part of the post on the right note I\u2019ll include some words that probably are more relevant today than they\u2019ve been since shortly after they were written.<\/p>\n