Hillbilly version: At our house your birthday was recognized as a special day for you. You could stretch the otherwise limits. After all, it’s your day. “What kind of desert do you want?” Birthday celebration changed over the years but the emphasis was that it was a special day. Then, we got older and eventually we tried to forget it was our birthday. Birthdays meant your were older and what was once important did not rank as high as it once did. Which brings us to the 250^th birthday of the United States.

The day is important because we are still here. How will we celebrate the occasion? We are not the original colonies. As a nation we have grown. Hopefully, both physically and mentally but how we celebrate the occasion says something about what we think is important. Setting aside the expense of the party, do we really want to project the image of militarism? A military parade seems like something the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under Kim Jong-un would do.