It's your birthday, America! Smile for the camera! Maybe just a little? No?
My family has an old photo of Dad on his 47th birthday on June 14, 1992. Dad is sitting there at the dining room table with his birthday cake in front of him. The evening must have been a hot one because he’s wearing a white tee-shirt.
Dad looks impatient in the photo. His lips are a little pursed. His eyes speak for him: Take the picture, already. Let’s get this over with.
Dad loved life and always did his part to make sure birthdays in our household were special. And historically, he always showed good cheer on his own big day. Speaking of old pictures, there’s a wonderful one of him on our front steps, his arms around my sister and me, beaming for the camera on his 31st birthday in 1976.
But this birthday in 1992, though. I doubt it ranked among his favorites.
“Wow, Dad was not in the best mood when we had his birthday cake earlier,” I told my friend as we took a walk later that evening.
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I was a little perplexed – at 20 years old, I was still young enough to think all birthdays should feel like national holidays and causes for celebration.
“Maybe he had a tough day at work,” my friend suggested. “Maybe he just has some thoughts about getting older.”
Indeed, decades later, when I was the guy turning 47, I thought back on when it had been Dad’s turn. I had a nice birthday that year, as I recall, but I was aware that I had entered the late forties and could see The Big Five-Oh starting to appear on the horizon. Maybe Dad was just feeling a similar trepidation. And for him, there was an even closer milestone than 50 on his horizon: his father died when he was only 48.
Bottom line: Dad sure seemed pensive and reflective on that particular birthday.
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Which brings me to my focus here: As we prepare to celebrate America’s 246th birthday on Monday, I can’t help but think there are a lot of people in this country who are feeling like Dad must have been feeling in that photo.
In the days ahead, absolutely we will enjoy barbecues, gaze at fireworks in the sky, attend parades, and hold dear our patriotic traditions. But will the occasion leave a lot of us feeling pensive about the state of our nation and the direction in which we are headed?
I dunno. Maybe I should speak for myself. But the evidence of malaise, concern and uncertainty is plentiful. There are quite a few polls out there showing that a decisive majority of Americans do not think the United States is on the right track.
I’m not here to weigh in on recent and specific headlines. That's not what I do in this space every week. I just want to talk about the temperature – not of the weather for the coming holiday weekend, but of the country.
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We all know Americans have been divided for quite some time when it comes to the issues we face, the events that occur, and the personalities and characters of our leaders. What alarms me is the way we all seem somehow to find ways to keep turning up the heat even hotter. Just when you think the division could not become starker, something comes along and makes it so.
As Independence Day approaches, I keep thinking of Dad in that photo from 30 years ago. I think of America, perhaps in the person of the Statue of Liberty, sitting by a birthday cake at the dining room table and looking at the camera. I think she looks like Dad did.
What does America look like in this picture, on the occasion of her 246th birthday? What can we see in her eyes as she looks into the camera and waits for us to snap the picture? What does she think of her life today? Of where she is headed?
What will she wish for on Monday when she blows out the candles burning on that cake?
Shawn P. Sullivan is an award-winning columnist and is a reporter for the York County Coast Star. He can be reached at ssullivan@seacoastonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: It's your birthday, America! Smile for the camera! Maybe just a little? No?
