The 4th of July is a Double-Sided Rite-of-Passage
Cutter Nicholas, Latexo High School Student
Special to The Messenger
LATEXO – Editor’s note: The Messenger was saddened to note recent negative comments by one of our local school districts about students participating in local journalism. We beg to differ, believing the more our local students both read, write and participate, the better the nation will be. Independence Day, more than any other holiday, is not only a testament to the strength of our country, but to the importance of the reading, writing and participating of our founding fathers and how it brought about a new nation. We are happy to present some interesting thoughts on the Fourth of July from a frequent contributor, Cutter Nicholas, from Latexo High School.
The month that comes before this holiday, June, feels like a gentle introduction of what the month of July has in store for us. The month of June still clings onto Spring and its pleasant qualities. Often not being fully-able to let go of its timidness & neutrality. July, however, doesn’t hold anything back. America is suddenly overtaken by scorching temperatures, summertime popsicles, and most essentially, the 4th Of July. It’s no coincidence whatsoever that whenever you notice these important traits of July, you feel that this years’ story of summer is quickly approaching its’ climax, dually reminding us all that the holiday is approaching quickly.
Well, if we are easily able to recognize & remember the 4th Of July, then what does it mean for us?
Similarly to the majority of holiday’s the U.S celebrates, there always seems to be two sides to the story. A key aspect of the 4th of July that commercial companies & big businesses seem to hold onto tightly are the parts that involve heavy purchases. Our dazzling fireworks and abstract decorations, while mesmerizing, seem to distract Americans’ figuratively and literally from what the other side of the Holiday means for us. While these decorations & fireworks may be connected in root to the symbolism of the Holiday, it requires you having money, and upon witnessing someone else having a hefty amount of fireworks. It can add extreme societal pressure to give in and make risky financial decisions in an attempt to fit in with your peers.
In fact, OnePoll conducted a study in 2023 during its’ 4th of July season to test if we even knew what the 4th of July stood for. An astounding 41% of Americans answered incorrectly, not even having the necessary knowledge to spout the simple sentence,”We gained independence from Great Britain”. Even more shocking, the incorrect-percentage rates have continued to trend upwards, so if a study were conducted this year. I’d suspect the numbers would be elevated from where they were even just from a couple of years ago.
That’s more than just a minuscule trivia-question, if nearly half of us cannot express correctly why we celebrate one of our major holidays. That transforms into a culture-problem. I have a theory that one of the reasons why some of us lack knowledge on this topic are the lack of contextual clues relating to the name of the holiday. It is internationally recognized as “The 4th of July”, and while I don’t have any mundane issues with the name, we tend to not utilize the alternative name ‘Independence Day’, at all, despite that name being more accurate and informative. Just think about it, nobody refers to Christmas as ‘The 25th of December’. This is an underground-reason on why I believe that Americans’ are under-informed on how the 4th of July came about.
Overall, the 4th of July is an essential component in summer, however, people interpret the holiday differently than others, deciding which chapters of the holiday to inject into their personal story of summer.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
