Chris, my blog brother and Port Pal, was kind enough to allow me to snag his post since he was in the hotbed of Democracy (or what was once somewhere where things got accomplished for the greater good) on this Independence Day. I thank him for his willingness to be my correspondent in the field! However, Chris, you must have been talking about another Lori Hahn at Home about the $300—how about if I just pick us up a bottle of Graham’s 20 Year Old and we tip one together when you are doing your Highway 1 Harley Tour?
Happy Independence Day! Today is a double post as it were. Lori from www.hahnathome.com is off on Holiday and has invited four people to write guest posts for her site in her absence. I’m not sure what the arrangement was with the other guest bloggers but when she indicated that the post I submit to her could in fact be the same thing I put out for my site, www.redhogdiary.com, I could hardly turn down the $300 she offered. (I hope I am not working too cheaply, I would be interested in hearing from the other Hahn At Home guest commentators to know if our compensation was similar.) Enough about that! On with the post!
Independence Day Post, Chris Wilcox; Hahn At Home Washington DC Field Correspondent.
The Capital City is abuzz with Independence Day anticipation. The city motels are full, traffic is heavy and the local media is in its glory advising visitors and residents of scheduled events and the best way to navigate in what is sure to be traffic hell.
As a resident of a town in Iowa with a population of approximately 500 people one of the first things that strikes me about Washington has to do with cultural diversity. When I think about all that our capital represents I find the diversity one of the most beautiful things about the city. Another feature of the population of this city is how young it is. Riding the Metro into the District or walking the shopping districts of Georgetown or Arlington it is apparent that a huge portion of the population is made up of twenty and thirty year olds. Whether that is because the city is a haven of opportunity for up and coming youngsters or because the lifestyle is too demanding for my contemporaries and those older; I do not know. It is almost eerie, in an unsettled mid-life crisis kind of way, to see the swarms of “kids” making their way at a harried pace about the city.
Stevie Wonder is performing on the National Mall this 4th of July, right before the fireworks. One of the best examples I can give to illustrate the notion that DC is dominated by the young and that we oldsters are better suited to visiting, not residing, in a place such as this is the fact that even though Stevie Wonder will front one of the most spectacular fireworks shows in the Nation I have no desire to immerse myself in the half million revelers for tomorrows festivities. I will opt for the relative calm and safety of witnessing the colorful explosions from across the Potomac in a lawn chair on top of my wife’s apartment building. I’m so damn old. How did that happen?
A friend of mine recently closed an email that he sends promoting his band with some very wise words. “Remember that we celebrate the 4th of July because our founding fathers declared Independence from governmental tyranny. Be an active citizen and cherish the concept of free and equal.” Bob Dorr, www.theblueband.com Free and equal makes no provision for “more free” or “more equal” as seems to be prescribed for those of a more affluent stature in recent years in this great land of ours. Our country was not built on the ideals that special interests and those with organizational clout would trump the needs and rights of individuals and it would be good for us to guard against that. The problem I see with being a non-active citizen would be that in an unchecked world the freedoms we lose could be our own. Celebrate your Independence today but also take a moment to celebrate the independence of your neighbor.
Published on: Jul 5, 2006
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