We the People

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

If you have talked to me during June or July, you have probably heard me relate the story of how my family spends the 4th of July. If you haven't, then you're about to hear it, with a little bonus at the end.

A few years back I had the opportunity to spend the 4th with my in-laws in Montana. In the area they live, most fireworks are allowed. Needless to say, for a boy from the cities of Oregon, anything aerial is just about the coolest thing I can think of. So I can't think of a much better family tradition than getting together and blowing something up.

And so it began.

Pretty much all the guys in my extended family are fans of fireworks. And I don't mean the kind of fans that buy a hat for the team they plan on rooting for while standing in line at the stadium. No, I'm talking the kind of fan that can dress from head to toe in a particular teams gear. Not just shoes and hat, but socks, gloves, underwear, and all the trimmings. They like fireworks. They know the best places to go and get certain kinds of fireworks.

Now I had seen fireworks, and I fancied myself worldly when it came to fireworks. I mean, I hadn't actually launched an inch-and-a-half mortar myself, but I sure had fired my share of bottle rockets and Black Cats!

Well, we all spent a little too much on the pyro-technics, and invited the cousins, aunts & uncles, and a few close friends over. And I gotta say, we had a pretty respectable pile of fireworks between us.

At dusk we started burning off the fountains, and the parachutes, and setup half-a-dozen mortar tubes. And we noticed one neighbor doing the same. And the competition was on.

We'd fire off a volley, and he'd follow it with one a little larger. So we'd have to show him up a bit, and he'd up the ante on the next one. And so it went for the next 45 minutes or so.

I had so much fun that for the next few days we were talking about what we'd do next year.

And each year we've stepped it up a little more. This year the tally was about $3000 to supply the show. And what a show it was! Just under 90 minutes of pyro-technic goodness!

We've taken to blocking off a section of road to prevent people from trying to drive through the staging area, as well as general safety. We probably had between 70-80 people present to watch the show directly. However, the road all the way out of the sub-division, and about a half mile down was packed with cars. The neighbors beyond the blockade pulled their lawn chairs out to watch. Best of all, We heard about a number of cars that stopped in the local department store parking lot to watch the show.

My kids were very excited for the show this year. They started asking about it at about 6pm. It was everything they could do not to spontaneously combust from the anticipation. I hope we didn't disappoint them.

But this morning I had a wonderful opportunity to talk with my son about why we do all of this.

He knew we were doing the fireworks to celebrate the fourth of July, but didn't really understand why the 4th is important. I got a chance to talk to him about America's birthday, and how the Founding Fathers wrote our constitution, and started this country to protect freedom and liberty. About how we light off fireworks to celebrate the freedoms we have in America.

He's six, so I'm not sure how much he really understood, as his idea of freedom is choosing chocolate milk in his Happy meal. But he listened, and I got to tell my son a little bit about the history of this great country.

If you haven't, take a few minutes to talk with your children about why we celebrate the birth of America. You might be surprised by how much they understand. And they just might grow up to be a driving force for political change in this country.