To my grandfather, Henry Eade, the Fourth of July was a day to celebrate. Every year, he retold the story of how he came to America as a young boy.

His family was leaving Lebanon, a war-torn, poor country. My great-grandfather believed they could have a better way of life in America.

My grandfather remembers seeing the Statue of Liberty from the bow of the boat and crying tears of hope.

I’m glad my grandfather doesn’t have to hear people say the Fourth is only good for getting out of work, barbecuing and setting off fireworks.

Perhaps there’s some truth to those statements. But like many traditions and celebrations, the feelings of gratitude and freedom from tyranny can be forgotten underneath the pageantry.

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Most of the statements were revolutionary. Those who signed risked quite a bit by signing their names to a declaration that called out the king of the most powerful country in the world.

Because of their bravery, America was established.

Here we are, almost 250 years later, and I wonder what they’d think of how our country’s behaving.

Political parties put their affiliation, wallet and the candidate before what’s best for the country.

People refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or when the American flag passes in front of them in a parade.

It might seem we’re falling deeper into apathy. But we’ve had shining moments.

On May 8, 1945, people in America and around the world celebrated to mark the end of World War II in Europe. My mom said her hometown celebrated the end of the war, proud of what America had helped defeat.

After the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, people cried when “America” or “The Star Spangled Banner” was played.

A lot has changed since then, and so many people feel disenfranchised from what America was supposed to be.

But there are those who still believe.

There was an engineer at the chemical plant where I worked back in the 1980s. Rumor had it that he’d escaped from a communist country and had been granted political asylum.

One day, I asked him how he’d come to America and what, if any, rumors were true.

He said in his country, people were free to go to dinner and talk about politics.

But you never knew who was listening.

Later, there would be a knock on the door. You were taken away and never seen again. He decided he’d had enough, and he made plans to leave.

With only the clothes on his back and money in his pocket, he waited under cover of night at a checkpoint. When the guard passed, he ran like the wind to freedom. The guard was yelling at him to stop or he’d shoot, but this man kept going.

He said the next week, someone was crossing at that point and the guard shot and killed that person. But the man I was talking to made it to freedom.

He risked his life to come to this country and never looked back. For him, the freedoms we enjoy were worth leaving everything he knew and all the people he loved.

This Fourth of July, I’m going to celebrate that America has flaws. America has a lot of things that need to change. But she’s still the country my grandfather and my friend dreamed of and where they found success and freedom.

Is this a perfect country.

Nope.

But we’re still working on what those 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence demanded.

And one day, we’ll get there.

 

Denise’s email is dhadams1955@yahoo.com