July 4th is my favorite holiday of the year. It means the world to me to live in the USA. It’s something I had tried to accomplish since I was 16 years old. Going down every year to the US consulate in Montreal and then Toronto to get a chance to win the green card lottery. Every vacation, camping trip was in the US. We would cross the plattsburgh New York border on a Friday night after work stop at a coffee shop off on highway 87 grab a coffee, open up the map, close my eyes and push my finger onto some random name where we would drive to and spend 2 weeks enjoying life. The sense of adventure in Assateague state park in Maryland where wild ponies would roam around, south beach and the marker that pointed to Cuba only 90 miles away, and the list goes on…. Love the USA.
In preparation for this 4th I started working on a playlist to celebrate this glorious holiday. Pink houses by John Cougar Mellencamp, Born in the USA by Springsteen and the list went on… When it was pointed out to me that these songs highlighted negative aspects of America. The highway that is being built across a black man’s front yard. A Vietnam vet who’s life went sideways, CCR’s fortunate son where some were not so fortunate. These were all songs that pumped me up while the words were not so complementary of the country. But then I thought, isn’t this what we we’re all about? We are great in the face of adversity. Despite the odds and sometimes the results. Do we not celebrate our independence from the ones that hadn’t planned for us to be independent?
It’s been troubling times for a while now, but make no mistake, as a person with 3 citizenships and passports, there is no better place on this planet. I know plenty that talk about living elsewhere and honestly I’d be the first to give them a lift to DIA but they’ve all come back. From Costa Rica, England and even Canada… Right to the same place where they first started complaining. 3 weeks anywhere… just go and then tell me just how bad this place is. You can complain about heights and density and politics and education and the lack of moisture and increased temperatures and bike lanes but at the end of the day, we share the same roads, our kids share the same classrooms, we eat in the same restaurants and cheer in the same concert halls. I can sit in a bar right here in Wheat Ridge and listen to the bartender talk about her junior intifada group that seeks to eliminate jews and can simply leave and move to a new place where I feel welcome. I can disagree with the city plans and have dinner with staff members and have a great time. This country allows you to be who you are. If you don’t believe that, don’t blame the country, blame the people you are surrounded by.
Every festival I have a Gazette booth with a banner that says “I will talk to anyone about anything”. The hundreds of people that come up and talk about their wins and losses, their loves and lusts, the wishes for better times and appreciation for what they have. It is incredible to hear from young and old about their ideas and frustrations and yet not a single person EVER has told me that they wished they lived somewhere else. The Carnation Festival is coming… Why won’t you visit our booth and share your hopes and dreams with me.
As always, thanks for reading.
