After the Fact, After the Fog
Living gratefully today, I give thanks for my largest organ—skin. Even as it experiences uncomfortable heat and humidity, it relishes in a cool breeze, shade, stepping into an air-conditioned space.
This 4th of July in the United States also made me a little uncomfortable. I considered writing about it yesterday morning, but decided to experience the day and then reflect.
After the fact, here are some thoughts:
*We got some very welcome rain in our area yesterday morning. We aren’t in a drought here, but in ways it feels like our country is. A drought of decency, productive discourse, and shared values.
*Shared values led to our nation’s independence in the first place, and the constitution written for our new nation went into effect in 1789. Today, it is one of the oldest living constitutions in the world. It is not a perfect document, but it is a flexible one. Flexibility—there’s a shared value we could try to bring back to our communities, legislatures, councils, boards, families.
*As I did some reading of historical information, I came across the fact that President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. Timing was important then, in the middle of “Freedom Summer” and just before July 4. It was also just a couple of weeks after the disappearance of three volunteers who were in Mississippi to help blacks get registered to vote, after decades of violent oppression had kept them from the polls.
It’s a fact that later that summer, the bodies of James Chaney, black, and Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both white, were found in a shallow grave, and that KKK members were later convicted of the murders. Those three civil rights workers died while seeking equality and rights for all—shared values from our constitution.
*It’s also a fact that yesterday morning in Highland Park, Illinois, six people who had simply set out to celebrate the holiday and take in a parade, were violently and randomly murdered. Another mass shooting in another American community. My heart aches for the families of the victims, and those traumatized by the day’s events. It aches, and it also gets angry and sometimes despairs. But it still beats, and that means I have opportunities to lend a helping hand, open mind, kind word, listening ear. Also tolerance and unconditional love for those who would take my views and trounce all over them.
*That event didn’t keep us from taking in a local parade in our neighborhood last evening. It was a first-time event and by all accounts a big success for a small parade organized in recent weeks. We were out there in the heat and humidity, with hundreds of others, appreciating the sense of community. Thank you to the organizers, volunteers, and law enforcement who were a comforting presence. We enjoyed the experience with our grandson Leo. And he enjoyed the candy and other freebies.
*It’s a fact that we stayed safe and there was no violence at our little local parade. It’s a fact that we also had fun waiting for and then watching the evening’s fireworks.
*It’s a fact that I went to bed last night and woke up this morning to heavy fog. That happens when the air temperature and the dew point are close to one another.
Heavy fog. It seems to be clouding our nation’s vision, and the vision of our elected officials—whether by choice or circumstance.
What can I do today? Not let fear keep me from doing the right thing. Not take my freedom for granted. Foster faith in the belief that we will weather this foggy time and emerge with some clarity soon.
