Not Quite the Fourth – 2025
/
RSS Feed
Not Quite the Fourth
Post in video format at the bottom
It’s the Fourth of July, but it doesn’t feel like it.
Sure, the flags are out. The hot dogs are on. Fireworks will light up the sky. But deep down, something’s missing—and I think a lot of us feel it, even if we’re not saying it.
Maybe it’s trust.
Maybe it’s unity.
Maybe it’s the quiet belief that the system still works.
I used to feel proud on this day. Now I mostly feel determined. Determined not to let the loudest, angriest voices define what this country becomes. Determined not to let indifference win. Determined to say something while it still matters to say it.
Because America wasn’t built on perfection. It was built on disagreement, reinvention, and the stubborn refusal to accept that things have to be the way they are.
So today, even if I’m not feeling the fireworks in my heart, I’m still here. Still pushing. Still believing we can be better than this—if we want to be.
And maybe that’s what patriotism really looks like right now.
Not celebration.
Commitment.
