Fourth of July at the Old State House

We are standing outside the Old State House, waiting for a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Humid and hot, especially for a mid-morning, and my camera doesn't work, of course. The battery has run down; I didn't think of recharging it the night before. A couple in front of us tries to placate a restive child by lifting him high into the air and onto the mother's shoulder. "He's gonna hit his head," Jonathan whispers. But he doesn't hit his head. He misses the scaffolding they are standing under by just a hair, quite literally.

The Declaration is read by Captain Commanding Colonel Daniel G. May (that's exactly as it reads in the program, and it all sounds incredibly complicated). The crowd can't hear him and someone behind us yells, "caaant hear."

"Typical Boston," says Jonathan. So, a new microphone is found, or it's turned on or moved closer to the speaker, or whatever, and we start to hear him speak, to read the Declaration. When it comes to the part, "That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent states..." a cheer goes up from the assembled crowd. A healthy, robust cheer.

(Later, my father would ask, "did you feel kind of funny, did it feel like something special to stand there and listen?" I told him no when he asked, but I'm not sure why I said that. lt did feel special. I remember saying, "to think, all this starting from one declaration." I mean, think about it. All this!)

Comments

[jlh]

I like the post.
That ceremony is so corny and artificial (like when people start cheering over the singer before the end of the national anthem), yet it is emotional every year. I think you have it right- the ceremony and the declaration itself taps into our primal need for myth and storytelling. It’s what brings us together on holidays (like Jews at the Passover seder telling the story of Exodus). It’s what got us past the civil war and will hopefully help us avoid another one.

Now if we could just try to keep the secret to ourselves. The institutionalization of personal liberty is definitely not for everyone and exporting it to the far and middle east may not be possible given their oligarchic and tribal tendencies.

Enough ramblings for a Saturday.

[MD]

j - you are about a thousand times smarter than me. Dude, you need your own site :)