The Guns of July

Today was a July 4 like many in Russia--tacky, even by American standards, and filled with Americanesque diversions so that homesick westerners can feel themselves a little closer to the country they left behind.

Although much of my day was spent recording the firing of a cannon from an historic Russian fortress or eating Russian-made hamburgers and swilling Coca-Cola, I couldn't help but bring myself back to a personal Fourth of July tradition--watching part of one of the greatest works of history ever created, Ken Burns' Civil War.

The Civil War cannot help but bring a number of emotions to mind. As Burns faithfully recounts in his documentary, my hometown of Clarksville, TN sent 975 men to the war, of whom, three returned. At the same time, my father's roots extend deep into northern history, touching a number of veterans, not the least of whom, General Ulysses S. Grant, eventually brought the bloodshed to its desperately-needed conclusion.

I do not intend to foray into any sort of North versus South, states' rights versus slavery debate. I think all can agree that slavery is barbaric, and that for whatever else that happened during the course of that war or as a direct consequence, the ending of that abomination was one of the great triumphs our nation has ever achieved (albeit in an extraordinarily untimely fashion).

The reason I ramble on this subject is that for me, no other period or portion of American history so typifies what we are truly celebrating on the Fourth of July as the Civil War. The history of the United States of America can be summed up as the slow, painful attempt, frought with tragic missteps and cruel injustices along the way, to create a better society--one that affords to all complete and equal rights and freedoms. One that does not visit tyranny upon the governed, but which offers each person the chance to be the architect of his or her own fate.

Despite great progress in a relatively brief period of history, we have yet to achieve such a society. But the Civil War marks one of our most difficult strides toward such. For me, Independence Day is not about hot dogs and vacations and fireworks. It's also not about America's birthday or even secession from the British Empire. To me, the Fourth of July is a chance to remember how far we've come, and how far we have to go. It is about recognizing the value of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And it is about recommitting to our deepest-held convictions and values, not merely so that they shall not perish from the earth, but so that some day people throughout the world, in all nations (including our own), will be able fully to enjoy the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I wish you all a happy Independence Day, and trite as it may sound, I hope we all take a moment from our grilled burgers and potato salad and explosive demonstrations to ponder what these values mean to us, and to remember the lives broken or ended along our treacherous and uncertain path toward the world for which every generation of Americans--past, present, and (I sincerely hope) future--has striven.