My Independence Day Parade

Sometimes I feel myself holding back, wondering if what I want to share in my blog will offend someone. That's not a bad thing by any means. But it messes with my impulse for authenticity and my drive for healthy honesty.

As a person who lives very much "out there" (Hello? Have you read Involuntary Joy or some of my blogs?), imagine my surprise at feeling hesitant about sharing how I celebrated the anniversary of our nation's independence. Why would I, the daughter of history teachers who included me in assisting with political campaigns as a child (in fact, my father is even a former Republican candidate for state office), hesitate to share that?

What has become of me? Has our current political climate affected my sensibilities?

I sure hope not. That's why I've determined to hesitate no more. I'm telling what I did to celebrate Independence Day, by golly. You ready?

I marched in an Independence Day parade in Clear Lake, Iowa, on behalf of a candidate that I hope gets to stay in office (that's me with Iowa Governor Chet Culver) and on behalf of another candidate I hope gets to oust an incumbent from office (that's me with Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin, former assistant attorney general for the state of Iowa). And, Sharon Steckman, I'd sure vote to keep you in office if I lived in your district!

I participated politely and respectfully, proud to be part of a country that - for 234 years - has adeptly navigated political changes in leadership by engaging regular citizens in the process.

If you think I hesitated because I didn't want to offend my parents, think again. They might have marched alongside me if we still lived in the same part of the state. The birth of Mark's and my oldest son had many in our family - beginning with us - rethinking our concept of political systems and the way government influences social structures. But that's a topic for a fully different blog. This one is about me exercising my freedom on Independence Day (well, technically, the day after). It's about me, being me.

I walked a parade route and saw people lining the streets in celebration of their country's freedoms. I watched political candidates waving, greeting, and connecting as best they could, and I saw people choosing to respond or not to.

Most people were polite and respectful. Some (very few) were not. But, if citizens choose not to get involved or if they choose to participate in a manner that is not polite and respectful, we might not like it, but that is a celebration of our freedoms as well, isn't it?

That doesn't describe what I did or how I did it, though. So why did I hesitate to post this?

I hope you watch the vlog and see what I saw. I hope you spend a few minutes walking along with me. We live in a beautiful country. Incredibly beautiful. Comprised of citizens of every make and manner. I'm glad anyone chooses to sacrifice his or her own time and personal dreams to navigate the political system into office. It's not an easy path. And I hope the only ones who choose to navigate such a path do so for all the best reasons: to serve the citizens of the city, county, state or country they love.

It's my Iowa. It's my America. How beautiful.

Holy Holiweek

Here I sit, living between Christmas Day and the start of a new year, and I wonder how these particular holidays would fare if ranked by their measure of holiness. I mean, which holiday do people regard as the most holy? Christmas or New Years Day? Is it really as obvious as it seems? What, after all, makes a holiday holy?

And what if Christmas and New Years were measured against holidays like Easter, St. Valentines or Independence Day? What then?

The list I've begun is flawed if I hope to reflect the feeling of all humans--all children of God--for the prism through which I view holy days is obviously Christian and decidedly American in its orientation. But because I recognize that, I hope I also have the capacity to recognize the holy impact brought about by Chanukuh or Purim or Diwali or Vesak, for instance. I'm ignorant of their meaning but not unaware of their capacity to reveal divine truth.

Which brings me back to where I started. Reflecting on this time between Christmas and New Years and what it might mean to people in terms of holiness. As I wonder, I remember of my affinity for birthdays: individual people's, individual birthdays. After all, a birthday is the one day set apart for a person to be held high regard. I feel birthdays are extremely holy.

Perhaps that's why Christmas has universal appeal regardless of religious affiliation. It's a holiday set around the celebration of someone's birthday. And not just any someone, but a person that a large percentage of the globe's population regards as a savior. And the Christmas birthday celebration involves gifts and parties and stories about the honoree.

And that's not something unique to Christians.

Vesak is Buddha Day, the major holiday of the year for those who are Buddhist. And guess what it celebrates? Buddha's birthday!

And guess what else: Sikhs celebrate Gurpurbs, or festivals associated with the lives of Gurus. And the most important of those festivals commemorate the birthdays of major Gurus. Birthdays, yet again!

Celebrating birthdays connects us to our belief that we, too, have been specially sent from God. Or maybe it feeds our awareness that because we are God's, we are special.

And isn't the celebration of a new year simply another way of celebrating a new start? All major religions, regardless of the calendar used, highly regard the beginning of a new year. And isn't that, really, just another version of a birthday? A start to a new year is a chance to start anew. A day of new birth.

So what an interesting week this is each year -- the week between Christmas and our western culture's new year. This year I'm focusing my thoughts on the divinity to be found in these day for all of God's children, all across the world--whatever new starts might be happening in their lives, in these moments.

May we all have a Happy Holiweek!