Fourth of July parades do a good job of representing America as it is today. Whether the participants are members of the senior citizen club or the citizen of the year or the owners of a local auto body shop or a girl’s dance company or the Boys & Girls Club or the committed of the town fire department or the high school band, everyday town folk are well represented.
But if you think of The Fourth as Independence Day, the number of floats or organizations representing the great sacrifices through American history are dwindling. The further back events are, the more we forget them. Some kids today don’t even understand September 11, 2001 no less July 4, 1776 or September 17, 1862.
These latter two dates are remembered for Gettysburg and Vicksburg and Antietam in The Civil War.
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The further back events are, the more we forget them.
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A Union soldier named Oliver Wendell Holmes would become a Supreme Court Justice and a supreme example of sacrifice. A shot to the chest and later one to the neck, a miserable case of dysentery, soaked wet from days of rain, starving and stepping over bodies on night watch combined to push him to his edge. Nevertheless, he would be sent home only to come back again and again.
If Holmes’ ghost could somehow limp through the duration of our Fourth of July parades, it might be doubtful that anyone would know his story no less notice him by comparison to the colorful marching bands and the latest hotrod.
The further back in history, the easier it is to forget.
The parade of history has not been good for our memories of one who barely made his last march to Calvary.
Perhaps we should get on the Parade Committees?
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Parades represent where a society is at and it’s apparent that the apparition of sacrifice is barely noticeable. Might our daily walk-and-talks speak for themselves so that know one has to wonder what our personal parades are truly about.
One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
Psalm 145:4-7 NIV