In the weeks
leading up to the 4th of July everyone was asking with such glee and
excitement, “are you ready for the 4th, any big plans, are you going
to watch the fireworks?” I would answer in my best Scrooge persona, “no, I
don’t like the 4th of July”. I even made one of my rare Face Book
comments on a post by the Winters Express suggesting that fireworks should be
banned statewide.
I do believe that especially in this
time of severe drought no one should be igniting anything, in particular things
that fly with fire through the air. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
That being said, like most men I do like things that go boom and make bright
lights and colors. I don’t know why, maybe because it brings out the kid in me.
So if it’s not fireworks then what?
Is it the over the top display of the red, white, and blue? Everyone flaunting
their patriotism? Sometimes it feels more like Jingoism (def: the feelings and
beliefs of people who think their country is always right and who are in favor
of aggressive acts against other countries).
As the first American born child of immigrants I don’t quite
understand this patriotism/nationalism thing. I can truly say that I love
living in the United States. I’ve traveled to other countries, back to South
America where my parents were born, and I watch the world news. I can’t begin
to imagine living anywhere else, but does that make me think were the best
country?
I grew up during the tail end of the
Vietnam War and I remember the constant use of the term “Love it or Leave it”
thrown at anyone who criticized or dissented against that war. It’s a lot like
the term “Unpatriotic” used against anyone who criticized our two post 9-11
wars in the Middle East. In my opinion there is nothing more patriotic than
dissenting when you think your leaders are wrong. Isn’t that what the Founding
Fathers were doing all those many Fourth of July’s ago?
But once again, none of those things
are why I don’t like the 4th. The truth is that I don’t like this
holiday because it makes me sad. That’s right, I’m just sad because it reminds
me of my dead dog Kudzu. So let me tell you the story of how Kudzu changed my
perspective on the 4th of July.
Growing up I had always considered
myself a cat person, we had dogs for brief periods but I always related better
to the cats. As I got older I never felt the need (kind of like children) for a
dog, I was content with cats. One day when I was in my mid twenties my wife
Diane came home with a full grown White Shepherd and asked if we could keep
her. Being the “grumpy cat” person that I was, I immediately said NO! “But
she’s blind” was her reply. Geez, what do you say to that? Turns out that Diane
and a friend had found her wandering and bumping into things along the freeway.
It wasn’t that she just couldn’t see, she didn’t have any eyes, just pink
behind her eye lids.
So that’s when I went over to the
Dog Side. We don’t know who she belonged to or where she came from but she was
great. She already knew voice commands like sit, stay, and come. She was always
happy and loving, and man did she love to run. We would take her to the park
and let her off the leash and she would take off, running in these big wide circles.
If we saw here running towards a tree or something we would yell her name and
she would screech to a stop. She did occasionally run into things and chasing
squirrels by smell was kind of tough but she sure loved life.
The first 4th of July she
was with us we didn’t think anything of taking her with us for the big
fireworks display downtown on the riverfront. We lived in Flint, MI and they
had a big show, usually about 100,000 people would come watch. It was about a
10 to 12 block walk to get right into the action so we headed off like past
years.
As we walked along the crowds got
thicker, it got louder, fire crackers, sizzlers, and whistlers were all around.
Kudzu started to get jumpy and anxious, she started panting and we were
starting to realize maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Then Kaboom, the real show
started and Kudzu freaked. We all took off running towards home with her in a
panicked lead.
When we got home we tried to comfort
her as best we could but we weren’t that far away from the explosions so all we
could do was wait it out. As we lay there all huddled together on the floor I
realized that this glorious display of sound and light that we as humans just
saw as entertainment was scaring the living hell out all the other creatures
around us.
Kudzu only lived another year or so
because she had other health issues and I still miss her, so that’s why I don’t
like the 4th of July. We got lucky that Kudzu didn’t get away from
us that day but unfortunately the 4th of July is the biggest day of
the year for lost pets and that really makes me sad.
To view the column in it's original form go to page 14 of the following link. Winters Express 7/9/15
No comments:
Post a Comment