We are planning on attending a largish family event on the 5th, and had discussed inviting a couple for a cookout on the 4th. My wife likes to watch some fireworks, so she’s been looking up schedules. Me, I’ve seen enough fireworks in my life. Not worth staying up for IMO.
But this morning she commented that she wasn’t feeling all that enthusiastic about any of our plans, because she wasn’t really feeling like celebrating our country these days. Yeah - I guess we could try to believe we were celebrating the democratic principles our country was based on …
Just wondering if anyone else was having similar thoughts with the 4th less than 2 weeks off.
I’ve never celebrated the 4th of July as an act of patriotism. This year, i am traveling to CA to go to a big gay square dance convention. It will be smaller than expected, because a lot of Canadians who previously registered have backed out. But I’m already here, in the US, and see no reason to skip the convention.
I enjoy fireworks, and if i can see any from near my hotel, I’ll watch. But just because they are pretty and go “boom” in a satisfying way.
I guess there’s a little more risk because Iran might attack us. But it seems unlikely I’ll be involved, and i doubt the risk is much greater there (or even in the flight) than there is here at home.
No, in that I was trying to avoid having the 4th with my wife’s extended family, because a bunch of them are far too Trumpy for my tastes, and I suspected there was going to be some subtle (or not) digs even though overall most are good at keeping politics out of family events. BUT, it’s one of the holidays my MiL hosts, so my presence is pretty much a given.
Kinda, in that I had worked around that a bit, because we managed to get some out of state friends to come visit over the holiday, and so I was making excuses that I couldn’t come over because I’d be keeping charge of them, but my wife would of course come by.
Yes, in that with current events, the whole family (several of whom are retired and reserve military) are trying to make sure everyone gets to see each other in case things turn more serious, so it was hinted at me that my face should be seen. So we’ll both be attending for a couple of hours, then using our houseguest as an excuse to cut things short.
Personally though, I don’t feel patriotic as well, though as with “No Kings” I did have flag materials on me, because I don’t want the RWNJ to claim theirs is the only claim to our nation. I wish on the 4th people paid a LOT more attention to the words of the Declaration than they did to the RWNJ effort to break the rights it claims and the Constitution was supposed to enforce… so once the family obligation is complete, I’ll have many a drink to our flawed founding fathers best hopes, and to drink away my current fears.
I rarely celebrate July 4th.
If someone invites me to a gathering I will go for the burgers.
Nothing this year so I’ll be at home either reading or online.
Or doing chores.
So nothing has changed with respect to this.
I live where I can see a couple of pro displays, albeit at a distance. Plus lots of amateur booms. So I do. They tend to start around 9pm and are done by 9:30-9:45, so unlike the OP they don’t interfere w my usual bedtime.
If I get invited to a party I’ll go. If not; not.
I think it’s important for the sane people to not let the Nazis steal our holidays like we let them steal our flag and our government. So boycotting is the wrong response, no matter how sensible that may seem.
A rational terrorist (ie. NOT a suicide bomber but one who wants to get away with it) would not attack in a place where law enforcement is on heightened alert - like a b-day celebration of the infidel country
Since 2016 I haven’t felt like celebrating US independence, especially because England, from whose undemocratic rule we were escaping, is now considerably more democratic than the US.
I will celebrate, like I do every year, with family and friends. I believe our country is strong enough to withstand Trump. This country has been the leading defender of democracy and freedom in the world for over a century. I will celebrate the people who have made it so, and will continue to do so long after Trump and his hyenas are gone.
There’s a big patriotic concert downtown most years that we’ve attended the last couple. We’re not going this year.
Although, it should be admitted that this is only partly due to the not wanting to celebrate the U.S.
We also have a conflict with a concert which is easier to get to with fewer crowds.
But honestly the biggest reason we won’t do the big Patriotic Concert is that neither of my aging parents are walking very well these days, and I don’t have the enthusiasm to make the logistics work.
We very possibly will do a smaller patriotic concert, but that one has had some eclectic ideas of what constitutes patriotic music. (National anthems from around the world, anyone? You got a point for every one you recognized, but got only half a point if you thought “God Save the King” was “My Country 'Tis of Thee”)
We will have a large, extravagant, explosion-filled celebration as always.
The only current events that will be affecting us will be whatever dumb-ass law Gavin Newsom passed this year against fireworks, and the increased prices for the fireworks. Last year, before the tariffs, the prices increased about 30%. I dread to see how much they’ve gone up this year.
We can’t celebrate. The dogs hate fireworks, so we can’t leave them. And this being Arizona, every house in town launches their own. It’s like Berlin in 1944 out there. All day, all night, and to a lesser extent, for days on either side.
We used to be able to see fireworks from our yard, but those places stopped having programs.
One of the nice things about being a longtime expat is that we can easily ignore these so-called patriotic holidays whenever we’re not, y’know, feelin’ it.
Never have ‘celebrated’. We’ll we did fireworks as kids.
My wife and I are moving and selling our old house. I’m staying in the new house, she in the old one. We are separated by 120 miles. Still moving some stuff so we see each other weekend.
I am hoping to be scheduled to work a full shift, for which I will get time and half, then go home, have a quiet dinner, and attempt to sleep through the neighborhood explosions.
Pretty much what I do every year.
Last year we had an accident with a home fireworks show a block away from me. Some large fireworks detonated prematurely. You could hear the screams from blocks away. Seven people in the hospital, several vehicles completely destroyed, about a half dozen homes suffering shrapnel damage. It’s a wonder no one was killed. Stuff like that long ago dampened my enthusiasm for fireworks.
Probably lots of people in the area will be setting off illegal fireworks. I may go outside and watch for a while in the evening. Luckily, my dog and cats don’t seem to mind.
If you usually celebrate, I’d celebrate. Mix it in with a protest if you want. I never celebrated Flag Day before but as part of a No Kings protest – and we had lots of US flags.
American here, and honestly to me July 4th is a celebration of summertime, my favorite season. So I’ll be at the beach with friends and family, watching fireworks (both legal and illegal) and drinking beer and eating tons of food. I doubly love July 4th since my manufacturing plant shuts down over the holiday, which means at minimum I get an extended long weekend or at best I get a week or so off work with pay.
Yeah, I’m not all into patriotism or anything. Our 4th is generally a parade if convenient, maybe a cookout, maybe fireworks (if I can keep my lazy ass up past 930.) Our preference is to go somewhere close with a far horizon, so we can see fireworks in the distance, without having to drive and deal w/ crowds.
Not eager to go to a parade where I’ll see preening Repub politicians marching, or even have to think about how many assholes in the crowd support Trump.
I’m sure not feeling proud of my country. So I assume any activities I engage in will tend towards the private.
Likely heading to my sister’s house on the 5th, just to float around in the lake. Their fireworks are that night. But after a day in the sun, I’d rather go to sleep earlier than stay up to see something I’ve seen plenty of before.