America Day

A July 4^th cannot pass without me thinking about The Road Trip. Sixteen years ago this very holiday, a brother-in-arms and I hopped into a 1992 Chevy pickup truck and headed to Toronto for Independence Day weekend. This was partially due to the fact that we were not yet 21 years old and could not legally drink in the United States of America. And being the sorts of young men that never wanted to be on the wrong side of the law, we thought it best to go where it was legal to drink. We plugged a small Stars and Stripes into the back window of the truck and headed out down I-94, over the Ambassador Bridge, and down the QEW to Toronto, arriving just in time to sleep in the truck the rest of the night.

These years later and here I am, living in Toronto.

I worked today as I didn’t have the day off. I did have Monday off in observance of Canada Day. And I left early today to finalize the paperwork for an apartment just outside of the city. On my way back to my current basement room I’m renting, while idling in traffic in a different pickup truck, I got a little reflective of what these last 16 years have been.

Thirteen of them have seen a war fought all over Creation.

For eight of them, I’ve been a home owner.

I graduated college, started a career, and moved into the “middle professional years”, as the HR people call them.

The internet exploded and pretty much killed off phone books and porn you have to buy in a convenience store.

What else?

Sixteen years ago, I voted Republican. I hadn’t yet learned that the way adults see the world is on a thin, straight line between left and right. Learning that has made things easy. As someone that likes firearms, I’m on the right, but I really can’t stand most gun people. As someone that feels roads and other infrastructure is important (including healthcare) and should be paid for collectively, I’m on the left. But I know so many people on the left that cheat on taxes I find myself annoyed with them, too. So this right/left thing makes everything easier as I have realized that there are no quick fixes and just hope the next generation is stronger than I am. Not that I’m perfect. I do drink too much.

I don’t want to leave this where one could say I’m overly-simplifying both sides of the issue. Let me drone on…

The right wants freedom of religion and wants smaller government, but then uses government to enshrine specific beliefs as "the real ones" in the country.

The left wants access to shared services, but then doesn’t have the voice (read: backbone) to state that “shared” means we all have to pull our own weight.

The left states that as free citizens, we have the power to make our own choices, but then chills those choices by continuing and expanding surveillance into our everyday lives.

The right embodies the spirit of the individual being the thing that makes America great, then limits choice for so many by elevating a small few to an ultra-rich status, again, through law.

Having earned freedom, liberty and our own land after centuries of struggle in Europe, America now can’t seem to plan more than three or four months in the future. So our bridges crumble and we mine more coal.

But don’t let this lead you to believe that I am depressed or that I worry about America. I realize that there are no quick fixes. And I know that America is now only the latest branch that grew out of very early societies around the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East. There have been dark days on the path from then to now and Enlightenment has always saved us. It brought us out of the Crusades. It brought us back after the first World War. It developed clean water delivery, sewers, farming, and just laws. We’ll get back there. Come to think of it, the Enlightenment created America in the first place.

I had hoped before that it would be my generation that brought Enlightenment, but maybe the next one will.

Or maybe we still can. After idling my way to this hole in the Canadian earth I call “the place I sleep”, I spent hours talking with David, the Iranian Coptic Christian that just moved in down the hall. He shared some wine with me and said “happy Independence Day… may I celebrate with you?” He worked for years in the US with Greyhound and has seen every highway I could name. He was shocked that I knew both Highway 1 and the Shenandoah Valley first hand, as it is his experience that Americans, though proud, know nothing about their own country. He went on and on about how he wishes more of the world was like the America that he knows. We became fast friends talking about the unspeakable grandeur that is a Midwestern diner breakfast.

There are a lot of good people in this world. There are a lot of good ideas. David is a good person. America is a good idea. Let’s love them both.

Happy Independence Day, everyone.