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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s the Fourth of July<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend, 2018.\u00a0 Like the era we live in, it was a day of conflicts and reflection, as well as fun.\u00a0The morning started out hot, high eighties by the 10am protest on the lawn of the Statehouse in downtown Columbus.\u00a0Thousands joined in, demanding that the children separated from their parents at the border be reunited. The demonstration was organized by a young Mom.\u00a0 She had never even been to a protest before, much less organized one; but she has an eight month old, and couldn\u2019t imagine how it would feel to be torn from her daughter.\u00a0\u00a0 She had to do something.<\/p>\n
There were no \u201cbig\u201d celebrities, no Lin-Manuel Miranda singing a cappella (in DC), no John Legend with a new song (in LA); just a few politicians working the edges of the crowd.\u00a0There were older folks, remembering the days of Vietnam and Civil Rights.\u00a0 There were immigrants, proud of their heritage, and proud of their life here in America.\u00a0 There were the college kids from OSU, so intense in their struggle to change the world.\u00a0And there were lots of \u201cjust parents with kids;\u201d just like the \u201cMom\u201d organizer, who clearly couldn\u2019t understand how our nation would do this.<\/p>\n
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There were a couple of hours of speeches, and a couple of people collapsing from the heat.\u00a0 When the \u201cmedics\u201d didn\u2019t respond quickly enough, the Highway Patrolmen and Columbus Police officers came to help the stricken.\u00a0Their job was \u201ccrowd control;\u201d who knows what they thought about the protestors or the issue.\u00a0 But they immediately moved through the crowd, just doing what cops really became cops to do, help people.<\/p>\n
There was a march around the Statehouse, on the sidewalks since there was no parade permit.\u00a0 When the crowd pressed into the main intersection, Broad and High, the police wanted them back on the sidewalks, and some in the crowd decided to focus on them to chant:\u00a0 \u201cwe own the streets.\u201d\u00a0 Seemed like the cops were doing their job, and who owned the streets was beside the point of why we were there anyway.<\/p>\n
Then back to the small town of Pataskala:\u00a0 burgers, brats and beer; good friends for dinner, then onto the town fireworks at the park.\u00a0 Pataskala lost their fireworks celebration a few years ago, the town couldn\u2019t find a way to afford it.\u00a0 But Mike Compton, the new mayor, decided that small towns had to have fireworks on the Fourth of July; it\u2019s what made them a town.\u00a0 Whether he voted for Trump or Clinton or someone else I don\u2019t know, but Mayor Compton has a great view of what the town should be, and how to make it happen.<\/p>\n
Sitting in a field, battling the mosquitoes, listening to little kids worry whether the rockets will hit planes:\u00a0hanging out with friends and watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.\u00a0 In a nation so divided, small town Fourth of July’s are a little bit of healing.\u00a0The divides will come back soon enough; \u00a0a little time for the \u201cOohs and Aahs\u201d is OK.<\/p>\n
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