4th July: greed and giving PART 1

Now that the fourth is past and life seems to be returning to normal.  In my town that means not being kept up at night by quarter sticks and cheesy copycats of the real thing whistling through the air.  I’d like to reflect on some deep, sobering, and for me, disturbing thoughts relating to this great holiday. 

I’m not unpatriotic before anyone gets the impression that I’m about to bash America.  I’ve lived in nondemocratic countries and have a deep appreciation for the freedom and liberty this nation espouses and which we celebrate on the fourth of July.  But, underneath all the flag waving, parades, and expensive displays of fireworks (which were really cool this year) there are some realities that need challenging. 

We took our kids to the fourth of July parade that our town hosts on the eve of this holiday.  Like any other parade candy is thrown to the children so in some ways this isn’t any different than our Halloween parade or a Fair Parade except it was in the context of the celebration of independence. 

My daughter is on the small side for her age and so it’s quite easy for other children to, by their size alone, push her out of the way.  Quite a few times as people were throwing out candy she would run to it only to have the bigger kids grab everything in their path leaving none for her. 

As a father it was heart wrenching to watch especially when she would come back to me and say “I didn’t get any”.  I could barely take it without wanting to yell at the other kids to not be so greedy.  It’s only candy for crying out loud so why do we think we need to grab it up as if it were going to delay old age or something.  But then again this is the fourth of July and how fitting it is for children to reflect the values of the nation whose holiday we are celebrating. 

Is the fourth about freedom or greed?  Perhaps us adults we’re not much different from those children.  We use the instruments of politics, power, corporate structures to take as much resources as possible from any country that is smaller than us because our sheer size and strength allows us to do so. 

I’M SURE THERE ARE FATHERS IN POOR COUNTRIES THAT SEE THE UNITED STATES TAKING ALL THE GOOD LAND, FOOD, OIL, TREES, ETC. WHILE THEIR CHILDREN DIE OF STARVATION AND THERE’S NOTHING THEY CAN DO BECAUSE WE HAVE THE BIGGER GUNS. 

How should we respond to our own habit of snatching up everything we can without thinking of others?  How should we respond to our children who snatch up all the candy or to those children who get none?  IT’S ONLY CANDY but tomorrow it will be something much bigger.