Fourth of July 2020 will be different for many of us in the United States. We are in the middle of a pandemic this year and we will all be celebrating closer to home. We will not be going to Grandma’s house to celebrate the Fourth of July because she is in the high-risk group of getting Covid-19. Several of the nearby fireworks shows have been canceled because of the virus and there is no good way to do social distancing at these kinds of events.
This Fourth of July we will have to remember the “good old days” of celebrating with family and friends. The hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, macaroni salad all favorites at this time of year. My personal favorite is the homemade vanilla ice cream that was made every year. Perhaps this is a great time to pull out those pictures from past Fourth of July to reminisce or start a conversation.
The fireworks show in many towns is the main event in the past years. Taking your favorite lawn chair and picking out your special spot to sit to watch them light up the sky could be challenging but always paid off in the long run. This year we will watch our neighbors shoot off fireworks out in the streets or their backyards. The safety of our families will be our top priority this year. This time around will feel so different to us and it is our second holiday of the summer months that we will celebrate with a different spin on it.
A lot of us have never gone through a pandemic before so we don’t know what to expect from day to day. The case count and the death count is reported daily in our respective states in the US. We wear our masks which now come in several varieties and people have become quite creative in making them for themselves or others. We use soap and water and hand sanitizer more often than we ever had to do before but we look at it differently now.
There are new words this year that we have added to all of our vocabularies, masks, shields, social-distancing, ventilators, six feet apart from one another, don’t touch your face, PPE, etc. I think we have seen the best of people and the worst of people all in one pandemic, but overall good is what I chose to believe.
I can only imagine how history scholars will present this to generations of the future. What they will say about the good, the bad, and the ugly of events that took place within the pandemic itself, the fussing and fighting between people with so many different agendas.
So what did happen on July 4, 1776? The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. They had been working on it for a couple of days after the draft was submitted on July 2nd and finally agreed on all of the edits and changes. July 4th became the date that was included in the Declaration of Independence, and the handwritten copy that was signed in August 1776.
I don’t think our founding fathers of this country ever bargained for what is going on today. I can see all of them scratching their heads and asking one another what happened to this country. After 244 years it has held up pretty well, it has taken a beating or two but it always comes back as solid as a rock.
So this Fourth of July 2020, while we are enjoying each other mostly at home, let’s try to be a little more understanding of our situation and thank first responders who are in this fight with us and do what we can to protect ourselves and each other. Yes, it is hot in some areas in the states but please continue to wear your masks.
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Have a great 4th of July 2020!!
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