Happy 4th!

Happy 4th!

38º 53′ 25″ N / 77º 04′ 10″ W

Today is the Fourth of July, the day United States citizens unabashedly celebrate the country’s birthday. Loudly, with music and fireworks, with no reservation and with pride as well as picnics.

Some say we wear our hearts on our sleeve today — they are right!

So what? Today we are celebrating our triumphs and recalling our trials and we are getting it all out in one day. Perhaps we think there is too much to be quiet about it?

The flag is simply a gathering of cloth to some, a tribal symbol to others but a representation of the U.S. to me. My father and friends have carried it into battle and it flutters in front of our government buildings — with each color, star and stripe having meaning — to me it is a physical presence of who we are as the United States.

The U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, perhaps Old Glory’s most famous moment — photo by Joseph May