Dear Independence Day

Call me unpatriotic for this one. I don't care.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecues, fireworks and American flags!!! YEEEE-HAWWWW!!! It's the most patriotic time of the year. July 4th is your day. Independence Day. You're the superhero of holidays. Christmas makes most of the money, New Year's makes people feel the worst, and Columbus Day essentially has no purpose. But you... You, Independence Day are the fat, fun, always semi-inebriated member of the holiday family that everyone always looks forward to. You always seem to come on a sunny day. It's a wonder we don't celebrate you every month! I suppose therein lies the problem, I-Day.

America was built on the tenet of freedom, liberty and the right to a fair life based on hard work. Yet, all around me, I see the opposite. I see Latin Americans in Arizona being told how to live their lives and being accosted because they 'look' like illegal immigrants. I see fighting left and right over every issue known to man, whether it's medical marijuana, health care, gay marriage or the economy's direction. I see politicians lying, stealing and taking advantage of their positions. I see our country war-mongering overseas and destroying our natural world with oil spills and lack of environmental awareness. There's still rampant poverty everywhere in the nation, but we still have time to celebrate you, Independence Day. As long as we can funnel food, booze and fireworks into our systems, it's fine. No, I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate you and feel good about the indenpendence of our country. We just shouldn't ignore the ills of our country under the guise of celebrating our independence.

Ironically, I'm writing this letter while in Canada. Even more ironic is the fact that I feel more unpatriotic writing this letter than I do being here. Is that a bad thing or not? After all, the point of you being a holiday is the freedom to write such a letter. Yet, I'm sure there's some Tea Party, gun-wielding, Confederate flag-donning hokie doing the same somewhere else, bashing the same things I am but on the opposite side of the spectrum. I suppose patriotism goes both ways as long as we wave the same flag, Independence Day. The founding fathers (including the ones who were doing all the work, ie: slaves) wanted it that way. Then again, a lot of the things they wanted didn't turn out too peachy. On that note, I'm going to go celebrate my 4th of July the Canadian way, whatever that is... *kicks back with maple syrup*