MindSpinner

I’ve been heartened by three things today. First of all, over at Path to Freedom (a good place for an occasional goat cuteness fix and an idea or two), the title of today’s post was Interdependence Day. That’s so much more accurate and useful a term than Independence Day that it’s been stuck in my head all day. The world would be a better place if we embraced the notion of interdependence more fully and took responsibility for our part in an interdependent world.

The second uplifting moment came in the form of an NPR report about immigrants taking the oath of U.S. citizenship. One young woman interviewed came to the U.S. five years ago to escape war in Sudan. She didn’t know a word of English then, but this fall she’ll be a senior at Brandeis. She talks of giving something back to her new country. Sometimes the people who can best tell us what America means are those who come from other places to find freedom and opportunity we so often take for granted. (After all, this is not a we-got-here-first, na-na-na-na-boo-boo, members only club.) I’m grateful for these new citizens for reminding me of what this country needs to stand for.

The third Fourth of July treat was the neighborhood cookout in our cul-de-sac. I got to know a few neighbors I hadn’t met who live several houses up the street; we had hot dogs (I don’t actually eat those); the men lit fireworks in the street while ten little kids sat watching in a driveway, parked there at a safe distance by their mothers. They squealed and clapped with delight. They ooohed and aaahed in sing-song chorus because somebody taught them to. The evening was pleasant; it felt like neighborhoods used to feel when I was a little girl out chasing fireflies with my friends on summer picnic evenings while the grown-ups sat on the porch and talked.