The deep bang boom of a couple of early fireworks erupted after sunset in Sloatsburg Wednesday evening in anticipation of the Fourth of July, which this year marks the 237th birthday of the United States of America, or, more accurately, commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Independence Day. Of mind and body with appropriate celebratory illumination and revelry.
Or, as John Adams wrote in his letter to Abigail Adams from Philadephia July 3, 1776:
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. — I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
As happens most summers, someone somewhere in Sloatsburg manages to commemorate Independence Day in a small village way with the sudden colorful July 4 eruption of fireworks, here and there, a few increasingly sustained and a delight to all.
Speaking of liberty and birthdays, approaching Torne Mountain on almost Independence Day, we crossed paths with a man who strode nonchalantly down the trail, coming suddenly off the mountain and clothed in his very own birthday suit. Buck naked, save for his boots and the sparse clothes he carried, the man turned up the trail and kept moving, happily oblivious to the presence of any other soul.
Was this a portent of some sort or just a naked man leisurely walking down from Torne Mountain, and possibly pausing to take a dip in the back woods of Torne Brook?
Unknown. Celebrate the liberty of life.
And enjoy the holiday. Don’t forget your local Sloatsburg and Tuxedo merchants. And recall sometime during the day the toil and tears it’s taken to make this whole thing happen.
(Copyrights go to all appropriate copyright holders, etc.)
Note on image of flags: U.S. flag image with some minor modifications courtesy of Zimand, Wikipedia, Oil painting of the US historical flags of the United States of America.
