America, I ask you: Tea Anyone?

Unlike last time, this time we left early in the morning. We learned our lesson; in order to avoid these wild American’s in their over sized SUVS, we must be as far from the curb as possible. It was Memorial Day, that day we remember all those who lost their lives for this country for one reason or another, maybe they were drafted, maybe they enlisted or maybe they were a casualty of war maybe even terrorism. There is, after all, always someone pulling the trigger with the sights set on someone or something. This day was, as Memorial Day, subservient to the loss of men and woman that believed in something far much greater than what we remember them for. They believed in the Dream that we call America. This day, July 4^th, we ride out to the beach –hopefully avoiding traffic – and we gather with our umbrellas, our towels and beach chairs, with the infamous red cooler filled with water, beer, liquor, and snacks or whatever else it is we consume while getting our Vitamin D.

But it is important to know that not all are at the beach today here at Point Lookout, LI. From coast to coast the backyards have the smell of a grilled chicken, meat or pork lingering in the air. The parks are being raped with litter bugs and the stores are racking in the cash for all the bags of ice and water they sold. It is a great day for our economy and pietas. But not everyone is smiling and rejoicing; remember those wild and crazy animals we fought some 324 years ago? Yeah, those guys across the Atlantic. For them, July 4^th is something else. Some of them I’m sure have forgotten that on this day we showed them that not everyone is subject to the policy of the big wigs; some people are just not going to turn over and let the powerful "One Percenters" make all the rules. But a nice chunk of those Brit’s still, I’m sure, have a sour feeling in their stomach on this day. While we eat our American hot dogs, our American corn fed meat and drink out high fructose corn syrup, they are sipping on their tea (with milk). And on such a hot day, tea is just not on our menu. July 4^th is not a day of celebrating for them, it is the single day they remember the most, the one that haunts their political dreams. On this day they ask themselves “did we get too greedy? did we really need to keep taxing them? What were we thinking about trying to rule these savages from across the Atlantic? Maybe we could have dealt with them differently?”

And now, as we spread the mustard on the hot dog, smear the burgers with barbeque sauce, ice down our buckets of beer, perhaps we should be asking ourselves those very same questions. After all, somewhere some place, right now men and women are sitting in a room talking about how they too are being dealt with by someone far more superior then they are. They too are being raped for something, maybe not tea, but nevertheless something.

- Sitting on the beach at Point Lookout, LI on this beautiful day, the 4^th of July, 2010