Summer and Simple Freedoms in New England
With Labor Day here, I’m quietly reflective as I am every year. Thank you Grover Cleveland for this extra day to honor another summer’s farewell while getting together with friends and family. I’m reminded of a really fantastic Summer of 2007. The coolest thing about it is we enjoyed it right here in New England with so much to do that we were left feeling we needed a vacation from our vacation.
The above pic is a shot I got while taking a ferry from Boston Harbor over to Spectacle Island, one of the many Harbor Islands located just beyond the Harbor. It was really cool to be surrounded by beautiful sailboats while having planes fly directly overhead. We got to witness a Native American gathering with the Nipmuc people and I was reminded, once again, of just how blessed I am to live in such a sacred part of this FREE and beautiful country.
I think for many of us New Englanders, we take for granted just how fortunate we are each day as we tread upon this land, taking part in the daily grind, rushing blindly to our destinations. As many of us commute down 93 across the bridge into Boston, we are so focused on getting to work on time, that we don’t often have time to remember that we are able to FREELY work and thrive and exist because of that small group of people who stood up for what they believed in back a few hundred years ago, on this very same land. Since that time, there have also been many others who have fought that similar fight and we NEED to remember them and honor them each day as we go about our business. How very blessed are we to be living a life where many of us complain that the grocery line is too long, our internet connections are just not running fast enough, and our summers are much too short? Is this REALLY ALL we have to complain about?
This very moment many of our friends, families, and loved ones are busy dedicating and sacrificing their lives to honor this freedom that we take so much for granted. They have given up these lazy days of summer and are living in foreign countries, eating food for nourishment instead of gluttonous pleasure, sweating in the hot sun in heavy uniforms and tightly laced boots. They are fighting for all of our lives every single day, as well as their own. Have we taken the time EVERY SINGLE DAY to honor and remember them, to let them know what they’re doing is worthwhile, to just take one minute, ONE MINUTE of our so called busy day and say a small prayer for them?
Where did you put your flag? Did that yellow ribbon on your car make too much of a political statement for you, so you threw it away? What happened to “We Remember” or “We’ll Never Forget”? If we were to tally up all of the losses and say that it all happened on one day, would that help us to remember? Where is our collective memory? We’ll remember to pick up our dry cleaning this week, but will we remember that many were lost this week so that we could keep that simple freedom?
A lot of us, a whole heaping spoonful of spoonfulls are rememberig, and praying for peace and safety of “fighters” but we do it privately.., and I think we get confussed about what it is we are fighting for cause our politicians and the multiplicity of voices and opinions in America lead us to be open to a huge radio of choices to listen to–we get tired… but the beauty of freedom is that we all get to discuss what it means to fight for freedom and or what it means to be liberated, or to love anything… even at the cost of anxiety and clashing tongues and opinions… isn’t it?
There are all sorts of ways of fighting for freedoms too, its not just those in the uniform of fighter, its those who wear the uniform of Mother Theresa and of school teacher and of mother and of grocery bagger with a smile.. . …of baseball coach and of librarian and of therapist, and even photographer, blogger… I noticed on a photo site yesterday that all the big prizes were going out to phot-journalists covering war–really hard earned grit and heart provoking rewards for those people who can handle that kind of raw conflict… it was hard to look at some of the photos. God bless all the warriors…
Thanks for the post. And the photo of the harbor. Hi boston…!
You’re so beautiful. Your blog reminds me of something that many of us who wear the uniform of our country often discuss. Right after the murderous terrorist attacks in NYC, Washington D.C and the failed attempt that crashed in PA, this nation was united. Strong in the face of an unseen, cowardly enemy, who hides behind their so called “religion” to murder and wantonly kill, we were united and willing to pay whatever price called upon to pay. Now, life is comfortable again. In WWII the entire nation felt the burden of war. Sugar, gas, rubber and many other commodities were rationed. Today the majority of our country is “untouched” by the war, unless they have family or friends deployed. Many of us (not of all us, by any means) tend to go about our day like nothing is going on. We may “catch up on Iraq” in the evening news, or hear of a friend of a friend who is going overseas.
I agree with you. For a couple of years after 2001, we saw all the flags, and ribbons, and stickers in the windows. Why is it now only the families and friends of those deployed who carry those symbols of freedom with them. Is it enough to say, I think about those guys? When I returned from Iraq in 2004, we had to stop in Bangor, ME to refuel the airplane. We got off the plane and when we entered the airport, we were greeted by volunteers from veterans organizations. They clapped for us. They hugged us. They shared that time with us while we waited. I don’t know any of their names. I probably couldn’t point one out today, but I will appreciate them for the rest of my life. They didn’t just “think about us”. They acted. What are we doing? How are we SHOWING our support? Or are we just feeling it? Politics be damned….how do you feel in your heart?
Well:
I have to say I WISH THIS BLOG WERE WELL KNOWN cause it feels like we could ignite a bonfire with this beginning here already! The whole county should get to see this and comment and it would hit so many bases!! Its just waiting here in a closet, to build alliances and open a huge dialogue… what can we do to get out there???
Is there a debate coming?? Someone email this to Anderson Cooper!! At CNN!!
Hey, how come I never heard of the Nipmuc in school? Are they indiginous to the island?
I love Anderson Cooper lol
I’m sorry more don’t support the troups, If I were healthy and you know who was well I’d find a way to contribute other than writing. There is always so many things people “want” to do,
but don’t act upon.
I read once that a mother of a soldier would make her son’s favorite roast, freeze it and ship it off, I wonder if that would fly these days?
I have 2 things written on my blog in memory of 911, I actually mailed one off (Fallen hero’s) in NY think it was this year because I felt so strongly about it, It turns out I found later that I mailed it to the wrong firehouse. I know all people of uniform were there that day so thats ok.
Never heard anything back from them but I hope they knew it was heart felt none the less.
Thanks for the great post
I came looking for a spoonfull of sugah and found sugah is on rations these days… must be the war.