Bombs Bursting In Air...

 We spent the day away from home, at the home of friends. It took a three-hour drive to get there, and just as long to get home. As I write this post, bombs--albeit small ones--are literally bursting in air all around us. 

Our neighbors spent good money on pyrotechnics this year.

Fireworks represent celebration the world over. When I lived in Denmark they fired off the noise makers to ring in the new year. But to me, fireworks will always represent America...strange, considering the USA didn't invent fireworks.

When I see them, hear them, even smell the sulfur, memories of days off, cookouts, and sitting in our front yard anxiously awaiting a fireworks display from Lagoon Amusement Park come to mind. I miss those Lagoon fireworks. Back then, their displays were not stellar, but Lagoon had the best show in town.

It's later...most of the arial bombs have exploded. Tomorrow night, there'll be more possibly, then in a couple of weeks, the cycle begins anew as our state--and not our country--celebrates its existence.

More bombs bursting...

More America.

I love it.

Give Thanks...Where We Live

 Where we used to live, I hung the American Flag on our porch. We had lights so we could fly it twenty-four hours a day. We flew the American flag on all holidays, and if I remember correctly, we also flew it the entire month of July. 

July's a good month to fly our nation's flag.

In Utah, we have two major holidays in July. Independence Day, of course. We also celebrate the day when pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, July 24th, 1847. It's called Pioneer Day, or the Days of '47. We treat the holidays the same, sort of. We gather as families and friends. We barbecue, watch parades, and when night falls, we gather to see fireworks (some communities in our state are having drone displays this year...). 

It's a time to celebrate, but also a time to reflect...

Reflect on the lives we have.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved our nation's flag. I like other flags of other nations, but there's something special about your own flag. I want to fly the flag the entire month, but our new home has a porch that does not lend itself to the same display options as our old home did, so we improvised. I put together a flag and a base and I've flown it on most holidays. Yesterday, I found a light and for the first time in years, we had a flag flying all night.

I'm grateful for he life I've had, for being able to live in this country. I know I've been blessed...so blessed. I've lived with people who have loved me. I've had shelter, food, clothing all my life. Not everyone can say that. I'm not so naive as to think the flag is the only reason for all these blessings. The flag is a symbol--or should be--of a set of ideals that the citizens follow, something that directs them, protects them. Without anything to back it, a flag is only cloth. 

We've had the flag up for one day. It's been flying over our country for centuries. I hope it continues to fly for many more.

Give Thanks...Where I Live

 You see the colors everywhere now...an invasion does that. It took only a few days for the colors of blue atop yellow to be known across the globe. I've seen the Ukrainian flag more the past few days than I have my own flag.

Across the country and the world people are wearing the colors of blue and yellow on their shirts or they're making posters to show support of people they mostly have never met but feel they must do something.

I know our country has its issues, some serious, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I've never had to hide in the basement of a building due to an air raid. I've never had to flee for my life because of an invading army. The thought of having to do these things seems foreign and almost impossible to even imagine. Yet, half a world away people are doing just that. 

I'm thankful for where I live. I love to see buildings lit in blue and yellow lights. Reading supportive messages for others makes me feel good about our country, even with all its faults. I don't have all the answers...in act, I have very few. All I can say is I pray wars will stop, that people will stop being killed at the hands of others. And I pray those horrors will never reach any other country of land.

I Am Thankful For...

 On Sundays, I try and find things I'm thankful for and blog about them. I use the hashtag, "#GiveThanks" on these posts. I've been doing this for several years. I know by writing fifty-two #GiveThanks posts a year, I've used the same topics several times. Sometimes it's hard to come up with things to write about.

But, should it be?

Should it be difficult to find things for which I am thankful?

The obvious answer is, no. There's an old saying that if you ever feel down, just count your blessings and you'll realize just how good you have it. I truly believe this, mostly because it's worked for me on several occasions. 

There's the obvious reasons to be thankful...health, work, interests, the love of friends and family. I've had those things all my life. There's been times when some of those things are missing, but they return. Thankfully, I have all those things in my life right now.

I'm also thankful for the country where I live. I'm thankful for our freedoms, especially when seeing how people live in other countries do not have these freedoms or are having them taken away. I'm thankful for the experiences I've had in my life, for the people I've known, for those I call friends and who call me family. 

I hope to continue my #GiveThanks posts. If for no other reason, so I can remember what a gift this life is.

The Scene...That Made Me Sad

 I've been watching--and enjoying--Marvel's latest television project, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when a scene came on between a terrorist (sorry about the mild spoil...) and the Falcon's sister, Sarah Wilson. Sarah was asked about the new Captain America (sorry about the other mild spoil...) and she responded.

What she said made me sad.

There are many things that make me sad, some of the current conditions in our country, for example. The previous episodes subtilely and not so subtilely alluded to some of those conditions. The question was asked to Sarah about the new captain and she responded that in her country, she doesn't matter. 

Personally, I cannot think of many things worse than that.

Also, I don't think I can fully understand feeling that way. Sure, in my life, there were times when I felt I didn't matter very much--I think everyone feels that way at times, but deep down, I always knew I mattered to someone, even if it was just my immediate family. I always knew, on some level, I mattered.

The comment was meant to represent a larger group, but all things are perceived individually. Does Sarah matter to America? She doesn't think so. Is she wrong? Not to Sarah. Just as an entire group of people cannot--and should not--be labeled the same, America is not the same thing for all people. But what makes America different is that it has always been a place where people define themselves. It also is what people think it is. Their perception is their reality.

What made me sad is that for this person in this story, she felt her country didn't care about her. Those who see America one way say she's wrong. Others think she's right. The sad part is, the country isn't the one making the choice...it's the one giving the option.