Happy Birthday, America

Well, everyone, like it says, Happy Birthday to America on this Fourth of July.  May the nation know many long and happy centuries to come.

I am quite serious about that. I am, in my own way, an American nationalist. I believe that who we are, as a country, something good, and important. Yes, I suppose, on some weird level, I evn believe in American exceptionalism.

And I hope, truly, that we will soon exit this time of troubles, and that under another president, and with a different Congress, we will find our way forward, to greater wisdom, greater achievement, and greater happiness.

*

One quick note. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be moving this blog to my own website, which is MichaelJayTucker.com. Very shortly, explosive-cargo will be here: https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/blog. So, do check it out.

cheers
mjt

~~~

About me: I’m a writer and former journalist who has published material on everything from computers to the Jazz Age. (Among my small claims to fame is that I interviewed Steve Jobs just after that talented if complicated man got kicked out of Apple, and just before the company’s Board came begging him to come back.)

And please visit my webpage, MichaelJayTucker.com.

Looking forward to meeting you!

Independence Day, or not

July 5, the day after Independence Day.

It was relatively calm night, here, last night. There were some fireworks in the park east of us, and not a few loud bangs. Oh, and the air was redolent with sulfur. If you didn't know better, you would have sworn you were in the third act of Faust.

But, surprisingly, it was limited. It didn't have that artillery barrage feeling that 4 July sometimes gets. And there were only a few sirens…meaning, I hope, that there were few injuries. Though, sadly, there are always some. And, in a dry climate like this one, there are always fires where the rockets or sparks fall to earth, in the grass or on the mesa, or on peoples' roofs.

Sometimes…well, many times…there are also deaths. Someone elects to hold a firework in his teeth. Or to throw a smoke bomb through the open window of a house or a passing car. Or, whatever. And someone dies.

Alas, one wonders how long we can continue to celebrate the fourth in the way that we do. I mean, with fireworks. We have already made fire crackers (the loud explosive sort) illegal and done our best to replace them with various, less dangerous alternatives—fire fountains, whistlers, smoke bombs, and so on. But, ultimately, you cannot escape the fact that we have a holiday that involves the ignition of low-level explosives by people who are not trained to handle pyrotechnics…and who are often under-aged and/or drunk at the time.

I wonder if, in the end, we will have to stop it entirely, the way that many communities now make trick-or-treating illegal on Halloween.

There is something very sad about that. Yet, sometimes, it seems that as a people we lack the discipline, self-control, and, well, simple wisdom to be trusted with these particular toys, with their unique capacity for injury. It seems that, maybe, we need keepers.

As I say, a thought terribly sad…

And, worse, perhaps metaphoric.

For so much that is going on, now, in our politics and our place in the world.