It was getting late last night and I turned on the television. The satellite was down and I had to shut everything off and reboot the system. It came back up on a PBS station showing the Fourth of July Celebration at the Capital. Barry Manilow was performing and then Neal Diamond was singing Coming to America. Paying some attention to the television and more to the ever increasing noise outside, I stepped out onto the deck. The frogs were happily croaking joyously at the nearby pond which was at near overflow, thanks to the nearly 30 days of rain we’ve experienced. Overhead, the sky was just turning purple, and the first volley of fireworks doted across the sky.
Our town, like so many others, did what they could with a limited fireworks budget. Schools, police and other expenses were rightly on the list above fireworks and local celebrations. Many of my neighbors took it upon themselves to fill in the gap and gave us a mighty display of patriotic fireworks. Appreciation goes without saying! The cows are still in hiding, though.
While watching this great local outdoor display, the Capital fireworks were being illuminated off the television screen and the window and I could see both displays simultaneously. Obviously, the fireworks on the tv screen were spectacular and worthy of our country’s independence celebration as were those of my neighbor. But, I just couldn’t help but feel a little sad.
Many military bases in this country were unable to have fireworks this year due to budget cuts. This was unfortunate but other than a disappointment, harmless. Many communities helped out to make great celebrations happen in spite of the cuts. Starting Monday, thousands of National Guardsmen and civilians who work with them will be furloughed for one day a week. They will be living with 20 percent less pay over the next three months as the Defense Department carries out automatic, federal budget cuts. Obviously, this will affect not only the economy of the military families but also the economy of the community surrounding the bases involved. Economic issues aside, this also means that there will be fewer guardsmen available to fly those helicopters over heavily forested areas looking for fires and putting them out before reaching the homes of nearby civilians. There will be fewer early responders available in case of natural disasters.
I think we all agree that certain budget cuts need to be made but we must hope that whoever makes these decisions stops to think things through.
Hope you all had a good 4th of July. Let us keep America strong.
Sharon