To me, the 4th of July is the one day of the year I shamelessly allow myself to be as redneck as possible. I wear the most redneck T-shirt I can find (before you even ask-this year's was a blue tie-dye number with an American flag, dream catcher and bald eagle on the front), blast country music (yes, I'm aware liking country music doesn't make you a redneck, so don't get your panties in a wad if you're a country music mega-fan) and blow up fireworks (duh). It's the perfect time to catch up with friends and family over an all-American meal; burgers, hot dogs, beans, chips, all of the yummy salads (so potato salad and pasta salad, no actual lettuce salad) and pies galore. I love the 4th, because I honestly believe we live in a great nation and have much to celebrate (and also it begins the countdown to the next national holiday: my birthday), but part of me feels as though events once held with great importance to our nation have become trivialized by "Merica".
I live in the generation of "Merica", where anything red, white and blue has suddenly become an on-trend, must-have. Don't get me wrong, I love that loving my country is cool, I just wish people knew more about what they were loving instead of just following because it's the popular thing to do.
We are a generation that loves buying the Merica merchandise, but has become increasingly oblivious to the actual cost of our freedom and the more I checked social media yesterday, the more I found this to be true. Videos of people wiping beer off their faces with an American Flag, girls in itty-bitty bikinis wrapping themselves in American Flags, T-shirts with phrases like "back to back world war champs" and more covered every timeline, newsfeed and dashboard I had yesterday. The more I thought, the more I realized how genuinely mortified I would be if my grandpa (a World War II Veteran) were alive to see how lightly we take freedom.
We are a generation that loves buying the Merica merchandise, but has become increasingly oblivious to the actual cost of our freedom and the more I checked social media yesterday, the more I found this to be true. Videos of people wiping beer off their faces with an American Flag, girls in itty-bitty bikinis wrapping themselves in American Flags, T-shirts with phrases like "back to back world war champs" and more covered every timeline, newsfeed and dashboard I had yesterday. The more I thought, the more I realized how genuinely mortified I would be if my grandpa (a World War II Veteran) were alive to see how lightly we take freedom.
Yes, we can (and more importantly should) be proud of our country, I just don't believe we need to disrespect our nations flag (if you're wondering what is and isn't disrespectful to the flag, check out the U.S. Flag code, which can be easily found on google) or compare two wars that, combined, caused approximately 120 million casualties, to winning a football championship, for the sake of having a catchy phrase. I love that loving America is cool and I hope it stays that way, I just want it to mean more than "#Merica" on Twitter and Instagram, and I want it to be loved, respectfully.
With that being said, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th (and 5th, because who just won the Woman's World Cup?) with family and friends, celebrating the freedoms many of us were lucky enough to be born into.
God bless the USA.
God bless the USA.