Most people who know me well know of my ambivalence when it comes to things of a patriotic nature. Even before I went through my radical deconstruction phase a few years ago, I would get very bothered at the "God and country" type services that our church would put on around Memorial Day and Independence Day. I get agitated when I walk into a church building and see an American flag on the platform. I'm not anti-America at all, but I don't believe that we Americans are the new version of the children of Israel. When I go to public events, I'm o.k. with removing my cap during the national anthem, but I'm hit and miss on how willing I am to recite the pledge of allegiance. I don't mean to be overly pious, but my allegiance is to another kingdom. I do think that this country has some major advantages over others, and the things America stands for are often healthy and admirable. I just don't think we're the perfect model of a utopian society. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the freedom I enjoy, and the long holiday weekend. We got to spend a lot of time with old and new friends this weekend, which was a gift.

Yesterday was our first Independence Day here in the northwest. Big difference between here and San Diego. Having lived in a brush fire danger zone my whole life, the option of legally obtaining and setting off fireworks just hasn't been there. Fireworks are legal here - at least in my part of town, and the ability to set off one's very own explosions is quite popular. We've been hearing loud pops and whistles for several nights now, yesterday, of course, being the biggest. When you combine tht with the fact that it's not really dark enough to enjoy them until around 10pm, it was a late, loud night.

As I was laying in bed unable to sleep last night, I kept thinking that it sounded like battle zone outside. The booms and bangs were coming from near and far. It reminded me quite a lot of the Chinese New Year I spent in Taiwan. And while the noise didn't cause me too much alarm, I did keep thinking that this must have been what it sounded like in Baghdad in the early days of the current war. Except that the people there had actual large scale explosions going on all around them. They never knew which one was going to cause their house to crash and crumble. Regardless of their political leanings or their feelings about America, they huddled together waiting for the next bomb to drop. And the next one. And the one after that. That's very very sad. It put the whole Independence Day thing into perspective a little bit.