WHAT IS JULY 4th, ACTUALLY?

  This question is answered in as many ways as there are people asked. Because the 4th falls on a Saturday this year, many people see it as an automatic 3-day weekend since Friday the 3rd will be taken as "comp time". Others see it as the true start of summer and with it, vacation! Workers who have waited and planned for their week or two weeks of free time are piling onto the highways in search of a beach, a lake, or a mountain resort. Even with a less than perfect economy, Americans are claiming respite at places where they can see different sights, or just relax. Learning from the Europeans that changing venues is a healthy and productive diversion, we are beginning to embark guilt free on trips to wherever we run out of gas. With our educational and economic pursuits temporarily shelved it is easy to forget what July 4th - better called Independence Day - is all about and what human sacrifices it involved. Friends have sent me stark reminders of what went on in 1776, and it isn't pretty. Thanks to Email friends who sent this along to me.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

  • Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
  • Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
  • Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
  • Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

    What kind of men were they?

  • Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
  • Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
  • Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
  • Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
  • Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
  • At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
  • Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
  • John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

    So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

    Remember: Freedom is never free!

    I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

    Again, my thanks to the several Email friends who sent this important message. It is good to see that messages of this kind are not seen as intrusions. With U.S. troops currently deployed all over the world, remembering where they originally fought: was right here matters. Regardless of how many times or ways it is glorified, war is not anything to be taken lightly. In the Revolutionary War, it was necessary to throw off the oppressive Imperialists who conquered the New World and used the colonists to enhance their own livelihood. The wars we are engaged in now are for other people in distant lands. And while we applaud their desire to be free, I have to wonder if sending our own troops is prudent. What or who are we fighting against? An ideology? A government? Would a victory protect the safety of the United States? Our democracy allows us to debate these questions, and with that freedom we are blessed. Yet as the last fireworks display ends with a huge "bang", far away another "bang" means that a soldier may have been killed fighting not for OUR freedom or even that of another country, but trying to save his own life in the bloody chaos that is war. For that we wish him well; and may he return home intact to a world that can only read about his battles and speculate on their worth.

    As the afternoon of July 4th fades into evening, let me wish everyone a happy Independence Day. To my readers, JustMom will be taking the rest of July off for vacation, and I will resume publishing the column on Sunday, August 2nd. Be well, be safe, and have a wonderful summer!

    Just Mom

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