New Normal – Day 601

Photo: L. Weikel

New Normal

Check out the amazing fireworks display we reveled in this evening. Surprisingly, this extravaganza was provided not by a local municipality or community organization. No, these spectacular pyrotechnics were courtesy of our son and daughter-in-law’s neighbors. Yep. Neighbors. Welcome to what just might be our new normal.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “What’s your beef?” Certainly a fair question looking at these photos.

I’ll readily admit – these were the best fireworks I’ve attended in many years – and possibly, given the totality of the circumstances (proximity, vantage point, beverages and dinner at our fingertips – not to mention the ‘company’ we kept) the best ever.

But there’s something unsettling in the fact that at least three or four sets of neighbors were setting off fireworks of this caliber all around us, while hundreds of families in our area are literally finding it hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Goddess help them if they ‘catch the Covid’ and need hospitalization.

Old Imbalances

Let me be clear: I do not begrudge the neighbors their ability to purchase and set off professional-grade fireworks. I wish them the best of luck with it and hope they both know what they’re doing and do it safely.

Indeed, I am grateful we were able to benefit from their largesse.

But I think that’s the hitch. Call me sentimental, but it just doesn’t feel quite the same when our Independence Day celebrations are not being sponsored for the benefit of the community by our municipalities or large civic groups but by individuals wealthy enough to purchase veritable arsenals of firepower.

There used to be a sense of shared appreciation for fireworks that wowed us and sent chills down our spines at the beauty and sense of awe they inspired. Usually they were sponsored by our local municipalities or large civic groups. And that was part of the magic: the sense that we were coming together and sharing our resources (tax dollars) to put on a show we could all enjoy, celebrating our Declaration of Independence.

To me, it’s starting to feel like we’re living more and more in a country of haves and have-nots, with a stark and unequivocal divide between the two. And the number of people comprising these groups is not nearly evenly divided, not even close. I realize I’m almost certainly a bit late to this party – the divide has always existed, of course – and lately it’s been growing exponentially.

Seeing Inequality and Seeking Freedom

More and more, I see and feel our shared sense of community is being lost. (Perhaps that’s the great hope and excitement so many of us feel as we come together in support of Black Lives Matter and similar social justice movements.) There’s a growing appreciation for the vast inequality – and therefore lack of freedom – experienced by so many, and a concomitant commitment to seek that freedom for all.

I fear losing our commonality, our shared sense of being in this ‘thing’ together. Maybe this is our new normal. And maybe this loss is weakening the very foundation of what we’re supposed to be celebrating today.

Given the changes we’ve experienced in the past six months, how different will next 4th of July be? And giving voice to the unthinkable, I have to wonder: will we celebrate it at all?

(T-510)