Musings: Saluting July 4 as a special day

Celebrating July Fourth has had different meanings in the different years of my life. When I was a boy, I lived by the bay, and that meant swimming, fishing, and motorboat races and great family dinners.

Over the years, I began to appreciate the historical significance of this great celebration. My mother was an immigrant from Sicily, and her love and respect for this country became part of my upbringing. America was almost as important as her Catholic belief.

It wasn’t just a blind allegiance to the concept of our country; it was being a contributing member of this experiment. Her politics were conservative, and she worked for the election of several Republican judges in New York City.

Politics was sometimes part of the discussion in our house. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death, Harry S. Truman became president, and sometimes, my mother criticized him. On the other hand, she and my dad spoke respectfully about the president.

Am I speaking romantically of that era in our history? Maybe, but I believe it to be true. My wish for all of us on this great holiday is that we retain the civility that I believe existed. I wish for us all a great celebration that President Abraham Lincoln described in his closing remarks of the Gettysburg Address — that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

— Ernie Fazio, Centerport