Yankee Doodle’s toodle-oo to mad King George

I’ve seen many Independence Days come and go in my lifetime and have to admit the all-day party in Socorro is one of if not the best get-togethers when it comes to blending food, music and a terrific fireworks show. Kudos to Ronna Kalish of Tech’s Performing Arts Series for producing another uniquely patriotic day of fun.

There’s a full lineup of games, food and crafts, and fireworks, and I’ve got to hand it to Ronna Kalish and her crew for taking on what must be a daunting task.

But it seems to me Independence Day is not the only day we should commemorate with a legal holiday. I’m talking about August 2. Although the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4, it wasn’t until August 2, 1776, a whole month later, that it became a legal document, when John Hancock put his John Hancock on it, followed by 55 other patriots we never remember the names of.

And while we’re at it, let’s have another legal holiday on October 19, the date Cornwallis surrendered his troops to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown in 1781. I could go on and on.

If you plan on a traditional family cookout on the fourth, don’t forget to slather on a bit of sunscreen. Just make sure it has a high SPF, the Sun Protection Factor, created by Coppertone in the 1970s. Before that, we called sunscreen “suntan lotion” and had to wing it without FDA-approved levels of ultraviolet protection.

As for me, I plan on watching the Walt Disney movie Johnny Tremain, an old favorite, which puts our history into the perspective of the times. Especially when firebrand patriot James Otis is explaining to Samuel Adams, James Warren, and others in a clandestine meeting in Paul Revere’s attic on why the revolution is necessary.

“For we must fight this war in meeting house and Congress and the halls of Parliament, as well as on the field. But what it’s all about, you’ll really never know. And yet it, it, it’s so much simpler than any of you think. We give all we have. We fight, we die, for one simple thing. Only that a man could stand.”

Stirring words, indeed, from one of our early patriots, who President John Adams declared was the “most important American of the 1760s.” Unfortunately, Otis is mostly skipped over in the history books due to consequences from an incident where he was stabbed and almost beaten to death by British soldiers for circulating pamphlets in 1769. His brain injury was so grave that by the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he was too mentally incapacitated to participate.

He may have been one of those patriots President Adams was thinking of when he said, “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.”

Otis is remembered chiefly for saying, “taxation without representation is tyranny,” and “a man’s house is his castle,” but most importantly, he said, “The colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black.”

I’m prone to reflect on the words of our founding fathers which really get to me; the freedom to think what we want and the liberty to put those thoughts to voice. And you know what? The founding fathers still speak to us these 248 years later.

Like Thomas Paine, who said, “All men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” which were specified as the rights of liberty, private property, the inviolability of the person, and resistance to oppression.

Or Samuel Adams: “Our unalterable resolution should be to be free,” and “If conscience disapproves, the loudest applauses of the world are of little value.”

Oh, and don’t forget Paul Revere’s clarion call: “The redcoats are coming!”

If I was living during those heady days, I’d like to think I’d be one to ride my pony to Massachusetts and march the streets of Boston with the Sons of Liberty or pick up a musket and enlist with the Continental Army (since there wasn’t a Continental Air Force at the time) to drive those pesky Redcoats back to England.

Funny thing, though, is that they keep coming back.

We drove ‘em out again in 1814 when “we took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip…” or so the song goes.

Then there was that British invasion of 1964 when a slew of rock bands took over all of our Top 40 radio stations. But that’s a whole other song and dance.

What else is there to say but have a happy Fourth, come rain, shine, or sun blister.