The Fifth of July

July 4th, Washington, DC

Yesterday (in case you were in a coma and missed it) was the Fourth of July.  The Fourth came and went as most others before it - no new news here.  Earlier this week I saw / heard folks stocking up on BBQ items, several chronologically-impaired adults wondering why the date can't always fall on either a Friday or Monday, and more than a few teens buying contraband Chinese-made fireworks out of the trunks of cars.

Yes, a Fourth of July like so many others.

Then, of course, the calendar inexorably thuds forward to another day and we wake up to this...

Once again we take a perfectly good American Holiday and we use it to 'trash up the place'.

Yes, today is the Fifth of July.  

Today is the day on which we need to begin to clean up our National Mess.  

The Founders couldn't have foreseen what we've managed to do to their 'bouncing baby Nation' during the past 237 years.  

Well, perhaps one of them did back in 1787...

Philadelphia, 1787:  Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin,"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" 

With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded,"A republic, if you can keep it."

"If you can keep it."

Ah, maybe it's because I'm tired?  Maybe it's because I woke up crabby knowing that I have to work today and my boss does not?  Or, perhaps it's because I didn't sleep much last night due to heat, firework noise, and that little voice yipping at me as I tried in vain to fall asleep?  The voice kept repeating Benjamin Franklin's words spoken outside of Independence Hall all those years ago.

Memory is like that - one day you can't remember what your wife's nephew's name is, and the next, something you heard in Sixth Grade History class pops into your melon when you least expect / want it to.

Yes, today is the Fifth of July.  Do we continue to trash up the United States of America as we have in the past, or do we clean up the Old Girl, steady her on her feet, and nurture her back to health / prosperity?  

It's up to me.  It's up to you.  

It is NOT up to chance or to fate.

It's up to US.

Today is the Fifth of July.  If you blow it up, clean it up.

In reality it doesn't matter who 'blew up' our Country - what matters is that we clean it up and fix the mess we've allowed to be made for ourselves and for future generations.  

We, the People, will get our Houses in order.

Heat, fireworks, lack of sleep or memory-lapses will not prevent us from doing what needs to be done.  Members of Congress will be coming back soon to again stand, speak, lecture, and listen to each other.

It's a good time for them to listen to US.  

Happy Fifth of July, America...  

Godspeed.