July fourth
The fourth of July, independence day in America, and the small town of Hillsboro, Oregon, was having a parade that passed right past my porch.
It started out with the cops flashing their lights while riding their moter bikes, then came a fire engine followed by a few tractors, and then came another fire engine. Amongst the many fire engines and tractors we got horses with riders on them, and I was reminded of G.K.Chesterton. He said: anyone that cannot see the strangeness of a man sitting on a horse is already dead from the neck up.
The strange thing about a parade in small town America is that almost everyone seems to want to see it. People place chairs along the route the day before the parade, then they wrap tape around the chairs so as to lay claim to the space. They do it in Portland too for the Rose Parade. I suppose it's even stranger, in a way, that people actually respect the strange custom, and even stranger still that no one even thinks about stealing the chairs while they are left out over night. As such the people that have their chairs in place can arrive just in time for the parade and be assured of a good view.
The street was lined with people three or four deep, and they cheered and yelled as the people in the parade threw candy at them. The biggest cheer of all came when the Hershy chocolate float came by. The next biggest cheer was for the VFW's. They marched with such a pride that I almost got the drift of it all.
A float with the local survivors of Pearl Harbour also got my attention. Four old men sat in the float, they were smiling and waving, and obviously still very thankful to be alive. Then a float came by with a big photo of local lad P.F.C. Charles Hennings who had recently lost his life in Iraq, and I could easilly imagine it to be a photo of my son who served with the Marines over there. I thanked God, once again, that my son came back intact in both body and mind. He told me that when he got back he actually kissed the tarmac of the airport that he landed in. He sent me this article today: http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.19267/article_detail.asp
Both my children are Americans, they know instinctively what America is all about, but it's still a big mystery to me. I still don't know what it's about, but I watched the parade and kind of hoped that I would pick up some clues.
A few jeeps came by followed by a few vehicles with machine guns on top. The machine guns were manned by small children.
Many more not so small children followed doing somersaults and waving flags. Then a float carrying about thirty very small cub scouts really got my attention.
Their eyes were full of innocence, and I remembered an old photo of myself when I was their age. I was a sea scout. The sea scouts didn't really take off like the boy scouts, but never the less I was once one of them, and I was just as innocent looking in that photo as the boys looked on the cub scout float.
I looked at their innocent eyes, and I remembered what it was like to be so innocent. When I was their age I played on bombed out rubble and lived in a pre-fab because the Germans had bombed our houses. I remembered stories that terrified me; stories about poor Mrs or poor Mr that didn't get to the shelters or decided to stay home. I had nightmares about air raids for many years even though I never experienced an air raid, I was born in 1948, I could imagine it, line after line of planes, and this is the first time in my life that I've even mentioned my childhood nightmares...I still get them, actually...and I wondered about what kind of nightmares the young children on the float might be having. But the truth is that what scares some does not scare others, infact, what is terror to some is a delight to others.
My son recently told me some home truths about the Marines, about the sheer and totally insane blood lust, and it explains why he decided to be a communications officer instead of an Infantry officer. Then just yesterday my daughter told me about how she had fallen out with some girls because they set up an innocent white guy to be beat up by a three black guys. One of the girls was going out with a black guy and he was very jealous, so feeling her sexual power she played the very innocent white guy to a position where he would get beat up.
I am amazed at my innocence, and I thought about it as I watched the parade.
Ah yis, it's a rough old world tee be sure, but America is still parading, and her people are cheering. I'll never get it. Maybe it's because of my nightmares. I don't know, but I do feel lucky to be living in America on this July the fourth.
It started out with the cops flashing their lights while riding their moter bikes, then came a fire engine followed by a few tractors, and then came another fire engine. Amongst the many fire engines and tractors we got horses with riders on them, and I was reminded of G.K.Chesterton. He said: anyone that cannot see the strangeness of a man sitting on a horse is already dead from the neck up.
The strange thing about a parade in small town America is that almost everyone seems to want to see it. People place chairs along the route the day before the parade, then they wrap tape around the chairs so as to lay claim to the space. They do it in Portland too for the Rose Parade. I suppose it's even stranger, in a way, that people actually respect the strange custom, and even stranger still that no one even thinks about stealing the chairs while they are left out over night. As such the people that have their chairs in place can arrive just in time for the parade and be assured of a good view.
The street was lined with people three or four deep, and they cheered and yelled as the people in the parade threw candy at them. The biggest cheer of all came when the Hershy chocolate float came by. The next biggest cheer was for the VFW's. They marched with such a pride that I almost got the drift of it all.
A float with the local survivors of Pearl Harbour also got my attention. Four old men sat in the float, they were smiling and waving, and obviously still very thankful to be alive. Then a float came by with a big photo of local lad P.F.C. Charles Hennings who had recently lost his life in Iraq, and I could easilly imagine it to be a photo of my son who served with the Marines over there. I thanked God, once again, that my son came back intact in both body and mind. He told me that when he got back he actually kissed the tarmac of the airport that he landed in. He sent me this article today: http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.19267/article_detail.asp
Both my children are Americans, they know instinctively what America is all about, but it's still a big mystery to me. I still don't know what it's about, but I watched the parade and kind of hoped that I would pick up some clues.
A few jeeps came by followed by a few vehicles with machine guns on top. The machine guns were manned by small children.
Many more not so small children followed doing somersaults and waving flags. Then a float carrying about thirty very small cub scouts really got my attention.
Their eyes were full of innocence, and I remembered an old photo of myself when I was their age. I was a sea scout. The sea scouts didn't really take off like the boy scouts, but never the less I was once one of them, and I was just as innocent looking in that photo as the boys looked on the cub scout float.
I looked at their innocent eyes, and I remembered what it was like to be so innocent. When I was their age I played on bombed out rubble and lived in a pre-fab because the Germans had bombed our houses. I remembered stories that terrified me; stories about poor Mrs or poor Mr that didn't get to the shelters or decided to stay home. I had nightmares about air raids for many years even though I never experienced an air raid, I was born in 1948, I could imagine it, line after line of planes, and this is the first time in my life that I've even mentioned my childhood nightmares...I still get them, actually...and I wondered about what kind of nightmares the young children on the float might be having. But the truth is that what scares some does not scare others, infact, what is terror to some is a delight to others.
My son recently told me some home truths about the Marines, about the sheer and totally insane blood lust, and it explains why he decided to be a communications officer instead of an Infantry officer. Then just yesterday my daughter told me about how she had fallen out with some girls because they set up an innocent white guy to be beat up by a three black guys. One of the girls was going out with a black guy and he was very jealous, so feeling her sexual power she played the very innocent white guy to a position where he would get beat up.
I am amazed at my innocence, and I thought about it as I watched the parade.
Ah yis, it's a rough old world tee be sure, but America is still parading, and her people are cheering. I'll never get it. Maybe it's because of my nightmares. I don't know, but I do feel lucky to be living in America on this July the fourth.
posted by WaltsWorld at
6:38 PM
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