Go Forth of July

The flag, to me

A person with a family history extending back many hundreds of generations on the land we call USA once explained to me that the American flag is very important to them and they honor it and they salute it and they treat it with respect not because they think it represents the current government, but because it represents the physical landmass of the United States, it's flora, it's fauna and it's people individually. 

When we approach the stars and stripes as a representation of mountains and streams and valleys and beaches and rivers it is so much easier to appreciate than associating it with our current government.

This year, I will celebrate the Fourth of July by genuinely appreciating the environment, and the people around me and trying not to focus on decisions our current leaders are making.

I wish that our government wanted to be open and accepting to immigrants and strangers and weirdos, but the government isn't the country. It's really just our current leadership and, well, fuck them. 

I'm going to still care and love and if I don't have government machinery behind me to help me achieve equality, well, then, we'll have to build it ourselves, and if we become outlaws, well, then, Robin Hood was an outlaw. It's OK.