Happy 232nd Birthday United States

Yesterday we started thinking about the 4th of July and what it meant to us. I began to reminisce about the 1976 bicentennial, yes I am that old, and I thought back to one of the best 4th of July events I have ever been involved in. That was the first year I got that "Damn I am lucky to live here in America" feeling. I loved that feeling and it made me smile as I watched the sky light up in beautiful colors.

I did not set off the fireworks, I did not plan a huge party, I was a very young American for goodness sake. I realized that day just how important it was to celebrate the birth of out nation. Imagine if no one came out to see the fireworks, what if no one planned a picnic or seen a concert, or went to a park with their families.

One of the best parts of being an American is the ability to celebrate, we are ALLOWED to celebrate what we want, we can gather in huge masses of people and make a bunch of noise, and we can party until the sun comes up if we want to.

Not everyone in the world is so lucky, so if you start to feel like you may not want to do anything today, you begin to grumble about the crowds on the streets and at the events tonight. Remember you can decide to go or not to go. Ask someone who has had that CHOICE taken away from them how that feels.

We have brothers and sisters and sons and daughters in uniform right now, fighting for their lives because they believe our rights count and are valuable. They deserve our support no matter where they are or the reason they were sent there, they love our rights, to support or not to, and that's good enough for me.

Our Right to Party is a nice perk, our right to be naked should carry the same weight, America we love you, please don't steal our freedom, That's our favorite part.

Happy 232nd Birthday America, now everyone go out and enjoy your day and night. I will see you out there somewhere !!

Tony Batman www.tonybatman.com