Did you fly the flag on Independence Day?.

Wednesday, July 05, 2000

Did you fly the flag on Independence Day?

Did you stand up when the color guards passed by carrying the U.S. flag in an Independence Day parade?

Did you take time – just a moment or two Tuesday night, while sitting on a blanket with the children or grandchildren, waiting for the fireworks display to actually talk about Independence Day?

There really is no more important American holiday than July 4 each year.

It’s Independence Day, when the individual states united and America became a nation.

Mel Gibson’s new movie, "The Patriot," is being criticized for being … well … propaganda of a sort. Too one-sided, too much flag-waving, too patriotic.

Today, there are nations where citizens endure far greater tyranny and oppression than colonists did.

Today, some cynics may suggest an Interdependence Day holiday. One in which the mandatory volunteering of Americans to serve others suggests more sacrifice than service.

But, it is Independence Day that is celebrated every July 4. It is about the American Revolution and Thomas Jefferson at Philadelphia and George Washington at Valley Forge and all the others who pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for the moral right of an individual to live his or her own life as they see fit.

Did you even think about that Tuesday on Independence Day?