It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now.

[senchawizard@dillyofapickle.com]

@RickiTarr we will be celebrating the birth of my home country and my children's home country and the country my wife adopted intentionally outside of it

[mattsdspatch@mastodon.social]

@RickiTarr

my oldest friend's personal motto was 'Endeavor to Persevere'

when the black dog of depression has latched on , it's my mantra . and I find myself repeating it often of late

[iamnotu@mastodon.social]

@RickiTarr regardless of what goes on in the world, or in this country, you still have a life to live. your life. don't lose yourself in the slime. you should come first in your mind. if you don't what good are you to others anyway? get yourself together 1st.

[guillotine_jones@beige.party]

@RickiTarr
Love YOU, too, Ricki.
I have similar mixed feelings about celebrating the birth of the US under the conditions we're currently going through.
On the subject of fireworks, I just wish more people would stop to consider their negative effects on veterans with PTSD and domestic pets and other animals. In drought and temperatures like those prevalent in many places, fireworks present a real risk of unwanted and dangerous fires as well.

[realtegan@wandering.shop]

@RickiTarr
I cannot celebrate, since the America we were striving for never came to pass and the efforts we were making toward it were strangled by rich men filled with hate.

Every year we re-watch 1776 and marvel that the country even managed to happen.

This year is a year of mourning, not celebration.

[edgeofeurope@mastodon.social]

@RickiTarr I don't celebrate countries. What is there to celebrate? Citizenship is just administrative. If I'd been born 100-150 miles from where I came into the world, I'd been British, Belgian, French or German.
Which would've hardly made any difference.

[rickitarr@beige.party]

@Mattsdspatch ️

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

@RickiTarr

My thought is that we did NOT make it 250 years in this Democracy. Trump broke that streak. There is NOTHING to celebrate. WE DID NOT MAKE IT.

That doesnt mean we cant recover what Trump took. It just means that we are not 250 years of a SUCCESS STORY.

WE FAILED.

That failure is what needs to be understood on the most deep and basic level so it doesnt happen again.

We are not a WHITE Country founded by WHITE people only doing WHITE things that are purely WHITE when "others" invaded us and sullied our WHITENESS. We are not a country of the WHITE GOD that looks over only WHITE PEOPLE and only allows the WHITES TO LIVE HAPPY when all those "others" tried to also worship OUR WHITES ONLY GOD. Which is what Trump and his ilk want the world to now all the sudden believe.

We
failed.

There is NOTHING to celebrate. STAY HOME. Do not celebrate THIS. We did not make it 250 years. This FOURTH OF JULY, Trump will be forcing everyone to praise THE BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR, because he is a warmonging piece of shit that DESTROYED OUR FREEDOM AND OUR DEMOCRACY.

No one should be celebrating this weekend. To do so states that YOU BELIEVE TRUMP IS RIGHT and our country is a WHITE NATION with an immigration problem.

We did not make it 250 years with this Democracy experiment. You feel crappy BECAUSE WE FAILED.

[franceskamann@freeradical.zone]

@Benhm3 @RickiTarr

that's the part we need to get rid of.

The United States is supposed to be a multicultural melting pot of diversity and freedom. Those are the ideals. This capitalist **** is not worth celebrating.

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

Blessed are the flexible for they can not be bent out of shape

@Mattsdspatch @RickiTarr

[dnkboston@apobangpo.space]

@RickiTarr Sorry your mental health is suffering now, but also, OF COURSE IT IS. Being compassionate and living among monsters makes for insanity.

I haven't been enthused about "the fourth" for a while. Same with Thanksgiving. I observe it with my family because that's when certain relatives are in town, and between children and a disabled relative, it seems unfair to deprive them of that time.

Focusing on what/how I want to rebuild.

Maybe this is *not* a good time to leave fireworks around.

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

Me too. The thing I find abhorent about celebrating the Fourth of July is the fireworks. We literally stand and look up ooing at ahhing at something that is supposed to represent --The rockets red glare, the BOMBS bursting in air. I dont celebrate with BOMBS. Bombs are bad in my mind. Fireworks specifically on the 4th of July are bad in my mind because they represent death to humans so that others could be free. This in not something I deem worthy of celebrating in this way

@ravelin @RickiTarr

[em_and_future_cats@mastodon.social]

@RickiTarr If it’s any consolation, I feel exactly the same way about… waves hands widely… all of this
I made a comment to my husband earlier “I’m more interested in celebrating the 200th”
To which he said “you’ll be over 80 then.”
My response :
“EVEN MORE REASON TO CELEBRATE!”
I don’t know if that helps
Maybe we can celebrate 175 together with a better country and all of this horribleness behind us (and learned from!) (doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee but one can hope!)

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

If you are a Trumper, you spell that Freeedom.

@RiaResists @Mwritter @RickiTarr

[dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org]

@LaNaehForaday @RickiTarr

Naw, we didn't make it 40 years. The trail of tears? Jackson straight up ignored a supreme court order and genocided multiple tribes. 15,000 dead, 60,000 displaced.

Hell, we didn't make it 1 year. Black people were chattel slaves the moment the constitution was signed.

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

Fully and completely agree.

However by celebrating THIS weekend, you are adding to the success of TRUMP, not the USA.

July 4th was our INDEPENDENCE DAY.
We are not. We are currently considered a CORPORATION IN THE MIDST OF A HOSTILE TAKE OVER by a failed business man.

@dlakelan @RickiTarr

[lumiworx@mastodon.social]

@RickiTarr

It's still a day like any other that ends in "Y". Just because it has a label on it that doesn't fit for the moment doesn't make it a required activity.

We celebrate when there's cause to do it, not because someone else does it blindly, or a TV ad or personality says it's time to break out your party hat.

[uair@autistics.life]

@RickiTarr

We all know the feeling, but I'd offer that you might want to simply save those fireworks for a day worth celebrating. I mean, dude's gonna die soon. That's an occasion to let off some bottle rockets.

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

Fireworks on New Years -- GREAT IDEA!

Fireworks when representing bomb flares, NOT.

@ravelin @RickiTarr

[krajcitom@universeodon.com]

@RickiTarr "what do we do, how do we help?"

Start local.

Here is one example - supporting a local candidate for state legislature. (The district is made up, according to the census, of about 30,000 people...and according to the county clerk, 20,000 voters.)

Grace is now an official candidate:
https://universeodon.com/@KrajciTom/116814587248706664

She is building the campaign one neighbor at a time, one neighborhood at a time, one organization at a time:
https://www.facebook.com/GraceForHD51/posts/pfbid02oBxGn9YZfjuEbcVCHet8nDzfdpVSUzVgaWLZ4RN2Mf7UhLFaJZinZGFFr6ZS9RUHl

Here is Grace's post if you're not on FB:

I am deeply honored and incredibly grateful to receive the support of Ashlie Myers’ campaign, including a generous donation to my campaign.

Although I did not have the privilege of knowing Ashlie personally, I have heard so many wonderful things about her heart, her dedication, and her unwavering commitment to serving others. It is truly humbling to be entrusted with carrying forward a small part of the work she cared so deeply about.

In Ashlie’s honor and memory, I will continue to be a strong advocate and champion for the rights of women and for our at-risk communities. Her legacy of compassion and service deserves to live on, and I will do my very best to honor that legacy through my work and my commitment to the people of House District 51.

A heartfelt thank you to Alexis Romo for your kindness, your generosity, and for presenting me with this donation on behalf of Ashlie’s campaign. I am also deeply grateful to everyone who continues to carry Ashlie’s vision forward. Your support means more than words can express, and I sincerely appreciate the trust you have placed in me.

Together, we will continue building stronger, safer, and more compassionate communities while honoring Ashlie’s legacy of service.

With sincere gratitude,
Grace Nagamine
Candidate for New Mexico House District 51

======================

You know, supporting local candidates...is about as 4th of July as you can get without launching fireworks.