The few who can remember who and when the Fourth of July activities were begun don’t agree on either who or when. There has been no attempt to reconcile the differences, folks just say, “It was either Bob Quill or Nell Starmup more or less around 1970 that started the bike race. Maybe it was both of them.”

There’s the bike race, a foot race, and a softball game. The old folks watch and laugh.

It’s an all day show put on by the kids for the old folks who eat fried full-belly clams, drink lots, belch and make hand-on-heart speeches about the flag.

See that one near the middle, pointing? He’s angry about being the entertainer-without-contract. They laugh when he drops the pop fly and when his kickstand fails. It’s a joke to them when they say, “Here, eat another hot dog” when he’s already full. He makes a silent pledge to himself, “I won’t be this way when I am grown-up.”

Here he is promoting some resistance, rebellion maybe. But even collectively they cannot figure out anything that they could do to make it different. They are too big, they have all the good cards. Suck it up, swallow it, and enjoy the hot dogs and how much fun it is ride the bikes together and fast.

To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.   Edmund Burke

George's selection of 66 Phlogs is available in print from People's Press.

Posted in phlog | No Comments