A Belated Fourth of July Message
July 4th, Independence Day, has long passed. Unfortunately, I had the rotten luck of getting a stomachache due to curry, so I wasn’t in the festive mood for the holiday. Another reason why I will get to in a moment. But first, I want to disclose that I’ve not celebrated the 4th of July for a long time, ever since we left America in 2013. I’m currently living in the UK, having no sense of national identity whatsoever. But I’ve accepted that I’m of two worlds, both American and British.
I wish it were easy to reconcile being American, but in light of what’s been going on in America recently, I just can’t. From what I’ve seen of patriotism, from the horrific acts that we have done for the sake of our country, for our values, from the greedy, borderline narcissistic, psychopathic, xenophobic, idiotic, jingoistic, manic tyrant in charge of our country, from the erasure of rights for the LGBTQIA+ community, for the disabled, for immigrants, from the way that being gun-toting, imperialistic, militaristic, us always being the good guys and saving the day, even if we do bad stuff ourselves, which is swept under the rug anyways, opposing of Chinese, Russians, the middle east, doing stuff that no one else is willing to do, even if it’s wrong on every aspect, having an opinion that is disrespectful and harmful to others is all pushed in media as what it means to be American, the right wing Christianity that’s being pushed through their beliefs, their popular songs, their charismatic pastors, it’s all left a sour taste in my mouth; it’s made me ashamed to be part American.
Lest we all forget, we were immigrants. We came from England and founded this country because of oppression. We defended ourselves because of oppression. We created our own constitution, our declaration based on that. But later on, we ended up becoming the very thing that we’ve opposed. The problem is that other countries like the UK, Europe (thanks to the EU), have adopted similar stuff; there’s hardly an absolute monarchy anymore (except in certain countries). But America likes to tout itself as being greater than all those countries because of those values, even though other countries have this, and that just radiates arrogance.
I am 23, becoming an independent person, and I’m figuring out how to celebrate certain holidays in my own ways in my life, and this is one holiday that I struggle to celebrate. I tried to make a plan last night, but I just couldn’t. So this is how I’m gonna celebrate it. Getting stuff off my chest and being forthright and honest about what I believe.
Have a good day with your loved ones. With your family. With your friends, even if it’s just one person that you love being around. If you haven’t gotten anyone to spend it with, find just one person whom you want to take a chance with and introduce yourself. Make whoever that person is feel less alone. Spend time giving to the less fortunate. Love your neighbour. What your country demands of you doesn’t matter. The broken values don’t matter. The battles they demand you fight don’t matter. The sides they force you to pick don’t matter. The people beside you and the people that you care for;
They matter.
Thank you, and may God bless you all.
