A Day of Mourning—July 4, 2025
We will Grieve and we will Carry On.
Today’s Audio—
No audio today…my voice has gone.
Hello all and sundry,
Thank you for taking the time to stop in today. It is, after all, A HOLIDAY here in the U\n/i\t/e\d States of America. This is a holiday I have celebrated my whole life. The Fourth of July, for most, has been a time of celebration for America’s Independence from Great Britain, a celebration of freedom from being under the tyranny of a king, and a celebration of our country’s belief, and quest, to have and maintain FREEDOM for ALL. That is certainly how I have always seen this patriotic celebration of independence, though, this year, those reasons were assassinated on the afternoon of July 3rd, yesterday.
With that, many of us are preparing, this day, not for the patriotic flying of Old Glory or the wearing of red, white, and blue, or the gathering to watch fireworks light up our sky as we celebrate the freedoms of this country, BUT for the burial of those hopeful-held ideals which have been all shot to hell, as this country kid would describe. Unfortunately, it will not be a celebration of life kind of funeral. It will be and IS a goodbye laden by a mournful, anguishing, excruciating, hallowed ground avalanche of sorrowful regret. This land, which eventually should have stood for a UNITED FREEDOM for ALL, has become ANYTHING BUT; it’s an ununited, freedom-for- some land, a-g-a-i-n. What we once called the American Dream is now to become a more widely shared nightmare of survival. The welcoming words on Lady Liberty are, now, but an illusion.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"[12]
Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
Why? Well, a large group of nearly all white, counterfeit “Christian” men, with their women in blind bidding, made their self-centered, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing, self-enriching views a permanent mask over OUR NATION’S visage, and they have, through all manner of evil and wily manipulation made their unpopular lusts and decrees—LAW. They have decided to force us, in too many ways, to wear their SHAME.
So, here we are. Here I am, with little to no words for a poem to mark the July 4th celebration of yore. Why? Because July 4th, 2025 is now a sham of a holiday, as a bigly brash blowhard is hijacking the day and holding over the heads of his subordinates, his BBB. We all know that as long as one man has imagined himself yielding crown and scepter with his subjects on their knees laying lips to his ring, any celebration of this day will forever be about him. THAT should piss us all off! Our Country, in representation of WE THE PEOPLE, should NOT be thought of in any such vile terms as this regime and its followers currently warrant that it does.
Still, if you have been reading me long enough, you know that I try to find and see the sunnier side, or at least decent side, of all things. In this case, SHEESH, how can I? There is no way, rightly, to come up with something about this situation which deserves any consideration of decency. There is NOTHING.
Yet…I realized what IS still to be celebrated are those of us who are writhing with our broken hearts for our broken home. Yes, US! WE THE PEOPLE, as this we ARE, should have the acknowledgement and the spotlight. So, yesterday I posted a NOTE addressing: What do we do, NOW? If you missed it, I am delivering it as a prose poem (with wide liberty) here. Its message, in summation: May the sun that rises tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow shine on who we WILL BE no matter the wretched-in-charge.
Now, some of y’all are still participating in The 4th celebrations (you are better than I), or, if you are like me, maybe you aren’t….so much. No matter how you do today, how ever your heart leads, no worries. You’ll have no judgements from me on whether you are having a traditional celebration of the day in light of who we’ve aspired to be, or you are out protesting this abominable push to change what this day represents: a ‘make America great’ under authoritarian rule mess. For now, we all have a choice, right? What ever this day draws from you, at least for today, YOU are FREE to do it, so hold on to it while you can.
Before we get to the piece I shared, I want you to know how I so appreciate that you took the time to come here. You’ve made me feel so much better just by being here. Take care out there and be sure to love on the folks you see! Be a ~ripple~ of the kind of American you would like to meet. Always, I love you!
What do we do, NOW?
What do we do, NOW? We keep writing. We keep reading. We keep connecting. We keep making friends. We keep encouraging. We keep speaking. We keep sharing our truth. We keep supporting others. We keep being kind. We keep being honest. We keep listening. We keep dreaming. We keep helping those in need. We keep smiling at our neighbor. We keep forgiving. We keep welcoming strangers. We keep laughing. We keep letting others go first. We keep opening doors. We keep hugging. We keep telling our stories. We keep learning. We keep our word. We keep caring. We keep playing. We keep teaching. We keep visiting the infirmed. We keep looking. We keep seeing. We keep moving. We keep writing letters. We keep rescuing. We keep calm. We keep grounded. We keep smelling the flowers. We keep talking. We keep our hearts open. We keep standing. We keep singing. We keep sending cards and flowers. We keep hope alive. We keep praying. We keep creating. We keep including. We keep feeding the hungry. We keep celebrating. We keep sharing. We keep holding hands. We keep swimming. We keep breathing. We keep in touch. We keep cheering. We keep being fair. We keep comforting. We keep giving. We keep lifting. We keep empathizing. We keep lending a hand. We keep doing. We keep healing. We keep planting. We keep growing. We keep harvesting. We keep united. We keep posting posts and we keep ~rippling~. MOSTLY—WE KEEP LOVING.
All of these, AND I intend to keep focusing on the lessons of the Divine—
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5.
Biggest (((HUGS))), all the beautiful wishes, MANY blessings, and MUCH LOVE, to ALL Y’ALL!
~Wendy💜
FREEDOM!!! True freedom. Fight the power!
Wow. I’m definitely going to keep reading Wendy. Your words carry such power. Good always triumphs. This is the painful in between. We have the far right breathing down the necks of our current liberal government. We may be next in line to fall. So, in solidarity, let’s hold that beacon, together 💪