Peace Should be Part of What We are Willing to Celebrate

 Is peace a part of freedom? Is it a patriotic thing? Can a song calling for peace be considered a Fourth of July song? I posted such a song, "Simple Song of Freedom" by Bobby Darin, seven times as my Facebook status. Nary a like or comment did any of them receive until just now as I am setting to post it this eighth and final time. Patriotic? Some would say such songs are almost communistic. Anti-war Songs? Not patriotic at all, but very unpatriotic, they would say. And, thus: no likes, no comments. Nothing but silence each time I posted. (Thanks to a wonderful sister, however, who was kind enough to respond to them at literally the very last moment.)

Well, peace is patriotism, to me. America is here to fight when wars need to be fought. When our cause is just and others we can free, I am not opposed to our fighting. Freeing others is worthy. But, the aspiration of a free person should be peace. The desire of Americans should be peace. To weave the call for peace into the Fourth of July is not wrong. A flag cut from the cloth of peace waves more gently in the breeze. And, the winds of change will never come unless we make them part of our being, part of our being Americans, and part of what we are willing to celebrate.