Freedom And Prosperity
On Independence Day
I’m usually a guy who thinks more about the freedoms American citizens have lost and are in danger of losing, than the freedoms we have retained.
But, on the Fourth of July, Coleman posted a really excellent essay that made me think about things the opposite way, at least for the day. You can read his enlightening words here:
On Independence Day we headed out to a relative’s farm in the wilds of Lewis County, Washington. Melinda and I, all three girls, their partners, and our grandkids. We were quite a tribe.
We sat in the shade under some big trees, grilled burgers, hotdogs, and chicken. To go with all the sides.
We walked around the farm some, looking at the latest improvements, and we looked at guns, so many fine guns. Did some shooting too. Let me tell you, that paper target is good and dead! It’ll never rise again.
As evening fell, we loaded up and headed back home. Into the street we went where we shot off a few dollars worth of fireworks, and truly impressed, watched the neighbors shoot off a few thousand dollars worth of fireworks.
The second meal of the day was here at home, it came off the smoker.
Ultimately, all our neighbors seemed to be running out of fireworks sometime around 3:00 AM. Melinda put Coop Dog on a leash and we went for a short walk through the now largely quiet neighborhood.
As an aside, I should mention that Coop Dog has zero fear of fireworks. He likes them, and spends every Independence Day outside with us as we watch them in the sky.
But, on that walk, we encountered a fire. Not a big fire, and not hurting anything, just a little fire, in the parking strip, about a block from our house. A pile of something or another was going up in flames.
I wasn’t worried about the fire, we live in the really rainy part of Washington. It wouldn’t grow and take out half the town. But, I decided to saunter back home to fetch a fire extinguisher to put it out, lest it eventually spread to a house. Mrs. Bailey probably would have moved quicker, but I was in saunter mode.
I didn’t have to do it though. As I started my saunter a homeless fellow who had gone by us when we were acting like pyromaniacs hours earlier arrived on the scene and quickly put it out.
This whole recounting of the events of the day certainly seems prosaic, but it’s not.
This country is remarkably prosperous. My family farms because it is the way the family makes a living, on the same farm, for five generations now. The farm we spent the day at belongs to Melinda’s relatives. They live on a farm for no other reason than they want to live on a farm. They certainly aren’t making a wage off the eight chickens that comprise their entire collection of livestock, or the huge hayfield that they have converted into a truly massive lawn. They can afford it. In how many other countries could that be done?
We ate until we could eat no more. And if you’ve seen my fat belly, you know that’s an accomplishment. In how many countries do people spend their days hungry?
We played with guns, and shot guns, right there in the backyard. How many other countries allow citizens the means and right of effective and deadly self defense?
We enjoyed fire and gunpowder, blowing fireworks into the sky. How many places have disallowed such things in the name of safety because one moron out of a hundred thousand lost a finger?
We didn’t need to call 911, plead with government to help with a fire. I own the means to put out the fire we saw, but more importantly, a man who is probably shunned by most people who encounter him stepped up to help.
So yeah, there are a lot of things wrong with the United States. And we should all work, as we are able, to improve those things. But we also can’t forget just how much is good. Especially in rural America.