250 Years of Freedom #ShadowshotSunday

Today, the United States celebrates its 250th birthday. And I will post my picture for #ShadowshotSunday early, at the end of this post.

Today is our Independence Day, the day the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia and formalized the name "The United States of America".

Since then, we've adopted patriotic symbols. 

There's our flag, for example.  

There's this beautiful building near Maine, New York (taken several years ago). 

And parades celebrating our birthday, such as this one in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on July 4, 2023. 

I've been fortunate enough to be around for both the 200th and 250th birthdays. 

For the 200th, my spouse was in the military.  We were stationed at a base in Texas, where there were festivities. Now, we are in our 70's, and we are going to have (we hope!) a quiet day, watching nationwide festivities on television.  For me, it will be a day of gratitude and reflection.

My grandparents came here to escape persecution and to find a better life.  If they hadn't, they may well have been civilian casualties of World War II. So, in a way, I owe my very life to this country. 

I have been fortunate enough to have set foot in 46 states, missing only North Dakota, Mississippi, Louisiana and Hawaii.  I've lived in New York, Florida, Iowa, Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas. I have visited 18 National Parks out of 63 (My spouse, 17). We've seen the Liberty Bell and Mt. Rushmore.  We've been to several Revolutionary War sites (Battles of Camden, South Carolina and Kings Mountain, South Carolina. Saratoga, New York.  Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn (New York City), part of which is on the Battle of Brooklyn battleground.) and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (before the age of digital photography).

These life experiences taught me how beautiful this United States is.  

Yes, our country's history has stains.  Many of them.  Slavery, including the fact that some of our Founding Fathers held enslaved peoples. Jim Crow.  Our shameful treatment of Indigenous people. The internment of some 120,000 people of Japanese descent (most of whom were American citizens) in camps within the United States. Medical experiments, including the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Various race riots. Deletion of condemnation of the slave trade from the Declaration of Independence between July 3 and 4, 1776, because some delegates would not vote for its adoption without deletion of that passage.

We must teach what happened in our history in schools, both the good and the bad.   But there is so much good to be taught about our country, too.  We enjoy freedoms that so many other people do not enjoy.

Our country is not just the beauty of its landscapes.  Truly, we are a nation built by immigrants.  In my 21 years of living in New York City, I was in nearly daily contact with immigrants from all over the world.  Diversity of cultures was the norm.  It still is.

So, happy birthday to the United States of America.  And, as we enjoy today, please remember the men and women who gave their lives so that we might enjoy those freedoms.

Finally:

For Shadowshot Sunday, hosted by Lisa at This and That:  A Blog, I offer this artwork found in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in early July, 2023.  Only in America can you find art like this.

Tomorrow, day lilies.