July 4 makes me sad these days. I was raised in the US from the age of 3 until I was about 12 – my childhood was spent mainly in Hawaii. My mother is American.
July 4 reminds me of gorgeous, decadent displays of fireworks over the Hawaiian ocean. Of driving along and seeing roadside vendors selling fireworks. Of barbeques and singing the national anthem. Of red, white and blue everywhere.
When we returned to Australia I went into Year 7 and spent the rest of my school career being teased for sounding like a yank. This teasing was so unmerciful that my mother remembers being brought to tears when I told her some of the things which had been said to me at school.
So I was a defensive yank. I still am, really. If you generalise about Americans in my presence, you’ll usually get a bite. And if you default to “But George W Bush is so evil”.. then I’ll ask if John Howard really represents *you* as an Australian? That usually shuts people up these days.
(On a side note, I saw a bumper sticker the other day which said “John Howard doesn’t represent me.” Even the fact that it was plastered on a larger-than-god 4W drive didn’t stop me from smiling.)
Having lived outside the US for so long, I have more of an outsiders view now, but still a nostalgia for the America I remember from my childhood. Admittedly, my view is skewed – I was raised by a JFK-inspired ex-civil rights and anti-Vietnam activist mother. But for me being American means valuing public service, valuing democracy and championing freedom.
Even the word freedom has been perverted now. When I say championing freedom I mean championing people’s rights, not those of corporations, which is all the American government seems to protect these days.
So today, Independence Day makes me sad.
Both Australia and America need to reclaim their countries from the hands of governments which, I hope and believe, do not represent us.
Bring on the elections!
