AS IF

WE COMMEMORATE OUR INDEPENDENCE TODAY, JULY 4TH, TO ACT AS WE PLEASE. DO WE CHOOSE TO ACT "AS IF" WE ARE SMART? "AS IF" IS NOT JUST A GAME PLAYED BY HISTORIANS; IT IS A PROVEN, PRODUCTIVE THERAPY. BUT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS PERSIST IN DAILY DISPLAYING WHAT GERTRUDE STEIN, THE WRITER, CALLED THE "IMBECILITIES OF THE MULTITUDE." HOW STUPID ARE WE TO RUN THE WORLD'S LARGEST 10K FOOT RACE IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, A GENUINE WASTE OF FEET! HOW STUPID ARE WE TO ENABLE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS TO PASS THE 'MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT' WHICH RESTRICTS THE USE OF SONAR TO FIND ENEMY SUBMARINES! IT'S NOT RHETORICAL TO ASK THE QUESTION, WHERE ARE THE "ETERNAL AND NECESSARY HUMAN VALUES," THAT EVEN PESSIMISTS LIKE THE WRITER F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, ADMITTED WERE HELD BY AMERICANS SOMEWHERE DEEP-ROOTED IN THEIR SOULS?

IF WE ACT "AS IF" WE POSSESS COMMON SENSE, ACT "AS IF" WE ARE MOVING FORWARD, HALF THE BATTLE FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE IS WON. IN THE THREE DAY BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG DURING THE CIVIL WAR, WHICH WAS FOUGHT OVER THE JULY 4TH WEEKEND IN 1863, UNION GENERALS HAD, UP TO THAT POINT IN THE CONFLICT, NOT ACTED AS IF THEY MEANT TO WIN. MCDOWELL, MCCLELLAN, POPE, MCCLELLAN AGAIN, BURNSIDE, HOOKER, AND FINALLY MEADE REPRESENTED A SUCCESSION OF LEADERS APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN. ONLY LATER IN THE COURSE OF THIS NATIONAL SLAUGHTER, DID THE MAN EMERGE WHO ACTED "AS IF" HE INTENDED TO WIN. GENERAL U.S. GRANT BECAME KNOWN AS 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER' GRANT, BUT TO ME HIS HEROISM LAY IN THE "AS IF" ATTITUDE FOR SUCCESS EMBEDDED IN HIS CHARACTER.

TWO EARLY AMERICAN FOUNDING FATHERS, PRESIDENTS JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON, IRONICALLY, DIED ON THE SAME DAY, JULY 4TH. THEY ALSO ACTED "AS IF" THEIR IDEAS WERE IMPORTANT TO AMERICA’S FOUNDLING DEMOCRACY, AND TRULY THEY WERE TERRIBLY SO TO THIS COUNTRY'S SUCCESS AS A NATION.

FAST FORWARD TO 2006. IF THE RICH, POWERFUL AND FAMOUS ELITE STILL HAVE NOT UNDERSTOOD THE REDEMPTIVE NATURE OF ACTING "AS IF" THEY ARE SMART, IT IS UP TO US STUPID CITIZENS TO SET AN EXAMPLE. FREEDOM DAY, JULY 4TH, IS JUST THE DAY TO START.