Let’s laugh a bit on the Fourth, but also be contemplative

Abraham Lincoln!

If only I had modeled my life after him instead of Daffy Duck.

As we all know, Lincoln invented the famous car that bears his name, but he also issued the Gettysburg Address, which states that all men are created equal.

Or perhaps that was his first inaugural.

In a time of strife, President Lincoln taught the nation that we could not stay a house divided.

If we wanted to preserve the United States, we had to rededicate ourselves to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Lincoln also taught generations of middle schoolers that four score means eighty.

What better date is there to reflect on America’s history than July 4, the day on which not only “Back to the Future” was released, but also “Spider-Man 2”?

It may be a symbolic coincidence that July 4 has become the day of the summer blockbuster. A movie is a way to tell a story.

What is July 4 but a day that we tell, and listen to, the American story?

We would be wise to hark to John Adams’ immortal words. He said, “It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance … solemnized with Pomp and Parade … from one End of this Continent to the other.” Of course he was writing about July 2, but you can’t fault a man for starting to celebrate too early. Maybe he spent a little too much time near the punch bowl.

It’s worth taking a step back from the humor to appreciate American independence.

“Wait a minute,” I hear some of you say. “This was supposed to be funny?”

But Adams was right. July 4 is a day of deliverance. It’s a day that sounded a death knell to tyranny and opened new avenues of political thought.

It’s a day that redefined individuals and their relation to one another. It’s a day that continues to define us.

Even the Gettysburg Address ties back to the Declaration of Independence.

That was the document in which our Founding Fathers told King George III to take a long walk off a short pier, but with fancier words.

The date didn’t mean anything then. It was a date that could easily have been forgotten, especially if Great Britain had won the war.

The Fourth of July might have been just the fourth of July. Worse, it could have been something like National Fish and Chips Day.

So we crack open some cold ones, and we blow things up, and we rev our motorcycles to the tune of “The Star-Spangled

Banner.”

We grill hot dogs and flip burgers.

We show, loudly and proudly, that we’re American.

Yet there have been a lot of forgotten Fourths. Not that we haven’t celebrated. We always celebrate.

But sometimes we forget — we choose to forget — to live up to our ideals.

On the Fourth, of all days, we must choose to remember. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And because it gives me the opportunity to quote more historical figures.

We must remember the suffering Americans braved to realize those truths held to be self-evident. We must remember there are truths that remain to be realized.

As we gather around our picnic tables for the 247th time, we must strive to be our better angels.

So what should we remember?

Which chapters of our story are worth preserving, and which interpretations need to be reconsidered?

We have a mixed legacy to contend with. We have a mixed legacy to learn from.

This is the land that many across the world see as the best guardian of freedom. This is also the land of contradictions, one that promises liberty and justice for all but hasn’t always provided it.

This is the land that never has been yet, and yet must be.

So before we go to touch off Chinese fireworks, chow down on English apple pie, and knock back German beer, let’s think for a moment about the United States.

Let’s ponder what it is. Let’s dream of what it could be.

Then let’s have a wonderful Fourth of July.