INSIGHT

Americans learned that declaring independence is not the same as gaining independence

By John Gierach Redstone Review

LYONS – July 4 was never my favorite holiday, although as a kid I liked the fireworks. I don’t mean the big municipal displays or the harmless sparklers and other low-level pyrotechnics that were deemed safe for children. I mean the illicit explosives we kids always managed to get our hands on somehow: Black Cat firecrackers, M-80s and especially cherry bombs that were desirable if only because they had the word “bomb” right there in the name.

We didn’t know what was legal and what wasn’t; all we knew was what was forbidden by our parents, which only acted as a guideline for what we could do in front of witnesses and what we had to do clandestinely.

We got the good stuff by bartering with older kids or stealing what we though wouldn’t be missed from hapless adults. And sometimes one of my friends had a lenient dad or crazy uncle who’d supply us, always after exacting a vow that we wouldn’t do anything stupid. Did they realize that we’d happily make promises to adults that we never intended to keep? Probably. They’d been kids once themselves and understood that the sole reason we wanted firecrackers was so we could do something stupid with them.

Lighting firecrackers and throwing them – often at each other – was fun for a while. Of course, we’d heard the educational horror stories about kids who’d lost fingers or whole hands or blinded themselves or others while playing with fireworks, but we had to consider the source. The grownups who told us these cautionary tales were the same ones who’d insisted, long after we stopped believing them, that Santa Claus and the Easter bunny were real.

Blowing empty tin cans into the air with firecrackers was interesting in an experimental kind of way, but it wore thin. We wanted more in the way of destruction, so this was when we’d dig out our old unused toys and proceed to blow them up. We’d grown up watching war movies and playing with war toys, so we had fighter planes, boats and tanks made from the kind of brittle plastic that could be spectacularly blown to smithereens with cherry bombs. A few times we tried adding kerosene to the mix hoping for flaming wreckage, but I don’t recall that ever working. I also have a vague memory of flowers being blown out of a garden by buried firecrackers, although whether I only heard about that or witnessed it I can’t say. And I remember the sight of a mailbox being violently delaminated when a lit M-80 was stuck inside and the door was slammed shut. Again, I don’t recall what part I played, but I know I was in the gang that sprinted down alleys and across back yards and vacant lots afterward so if anyone asked, we could say we were blocks away at the time. I feel bad about that now – all these decades later – and I hope I did at the time, too. If nothing else, it would have been the earliest available evidence that I wasn’t a sociopath. Of course, we were careful to keep our parents in the dark about all this, or so I thought at the time, although in the years to come I learned that I hadn’t kept as many secrets from Mom and Dad as I thought. This was in the 1950s when misdemeanors like this regularly fell under the loose category of “boys will be boys,” and the July 4 ambience helped. American flags flew everywhere – stuck on poles, carried ahead of parades and plastered on most available surfaces – and this nationalistic fervor sent the subtle message that the rules were temporarily suspended. That’s an attitude that has turned sour on us throughout our history, but we didn’t know that then. All we knew was that our small crimes were likely to get winked at and even when we got caught, the scolding was often softened

because the adult delivering it was visibly trying to hide a nostalgic smile. At the time, we called the holiday the Fourth of July –and most of us still do – but we understood it was actually Independence Day and observed the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress. The holiday was first observed in 1777 with fireworks, of course, and in some cases, mock funerals for King George. We’ve since given up on the funerals, but have held onto the recreational explosives and added baseball games, too many hot dogs, too much beer and the usual conspicuous flag waving. Gierach We understand now that our early lessons about our nation’s founding were based on a fairytale reading of history, but they were easy for kids to understand, functioned as effective indoctrination and the firecrackers were fun. But patriotism ages well and I continued to feel that little thrill at the sight of the flag even after I learned more of the messy details and the ways we’ve fallen short of our ideals. At best, it’s a work in progress that’s yet to be perfected, but at least our hearts are in the right place – the same things we all believe about ourselves. That feeling only started to wane when I saw the same flag proudly flown over Republican-controlled state houses where the legislatures were hard at work on voter suppression and when I saw it carried into the U.S. Capital by insurrectionists trying to overthrow a legally elected president. A liberal friend of mine in Montana continues to fly the flag because, he says, he refuses to let it be taken away from him. I admire the sentiment, but I feel that for me it’s already lost. When I see the grand old flag now, I don’t know what to think. But I haven’t entirely lost hope. I think it’s peculiarly American that we don’t celebrate the day we actually gained our independence from England – that didn’t happen until September 3, 1783 – but the day we declared our independence and the struggle began. That was 245 years ago and apparently the struggle isn’t over yet.

John Gierach is an outdoor and flyfishing writer who writes books and columns for magazines including a regular column for Trout Magazine. His books include Trout Bum, Sex Death and Fly fishing, and Still Life with Brook Trout. He has won seven first place awards from the Colorado Press Association for his columns in the Redstone Review. His latest book, Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers was released in June and is available at book stores and flyfishing shops everywhere including South Creek Ltd. on Main Street in Lyons.

B• R • I • E • F • S

Continued from Page 1 Tuesday August 3. Meals are served Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m. at the RedStone Café at the Walt Self Senior Housing Building. Call 303.441.1415 for more information.

Boulder County Sheriff has issued Stage 1 Fire Restrictions

BOULDER COUNTY UNINCORPORATED –Stage 1 Fire Restrictions were enacted at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 25, for unincorporated areas of western Boulder County; this coincided with fire restrictions being put in place by the United States Forest Service.

The fire restrictions have been implemented due to increasing fire danger, lack of moisture, and the forecast for hot temperatures. In addition, severe to extreme drought conditions throughout Colorado and the western United States can impact the ability to obtain suppression resources if a fire is to establish in Boulder County.

The fire ban prohibits building, maintaining, attending, or using an open fire, campfire, or stove fire. This includes charcoal barbecues and grills.

The following developed and hosted recreation sites allow fire in constructed, permanent fire pits or fire grates, in accordance with USFS policies and closures. 1. Kelly Dahl Campground 2. Rainbow Lakes Campground 3. Camp Dick Campground 4. Peaceful Valley Campground 5. Meeker Park Overflow Campground 6. Olive Ridge Campground 7. Brainard Lake Recreation Area (includes Pawnee Campground)

For current fire, shooting and developed recreation site restrictions and seasonal closures for United States Forest Service properties, visit: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/alertsnotices/.

Anyone found in violation of the fire ban may be convicted of a class two petty offense and may be subject to up to a $1,000 fine, in addition to any possible civil penalties. Higher fines may be imposed for subsequent offenses.

These fire restrictions are for unincorporated Boulder County. If you live within, or are visiting an incorporated city or town, please check with that city or town directly to see what, if any, fire restrictions they may have in place.

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