An Unusual Independence Day
Independence Day in the United States feels a little different this year. At a farmer’s market in Toledo, Ohio on this Fourth of July, I asked seven locals, “What does Independence Day mean to you this year?” The answers varied widely, but overall, I left with a feeling of optimism that perhaps we all have more in common than what tears us apart. Here is what they shared.
Christopher James
Violinist
“It means freedom. It means allowing you to do what you were born to do, what you were called to do.”
I asked Christopher if that’s what he thought he was doing right now, to which he replied with a smile and a confident, “Yes.”
Barb and Samantha Roose
Mother and Daughter
Barb Roose-
“So interestingly enough, I was thinking about that question this morning. And I think that the hardest part about defining freedom is the ideal and the reality. And so for me I just, I want to cling to the idea that freedom is our ability to flourish in every area of our lives. And right now that’s just where I’m at. So right now in America that’s my dream for America; that every one of us flourish in every day in every way in our lives.”
Samantha Roose-
“This year, despite everything going on with civil unrest and the pandemic and everything, you still have the freedom to go out and live. Kind of like you were saying, you still have the freedom to flourish. You still have the freedom to come to the farmer’s market! Pick up some fresh produce. Make a lunch later. Go out and socially hang out with our friends even if it’s from a distance. Go out and make a change in our country when we feel like something’s not right. You still have the freedom to do these things. despite what the world looks like right now.”
Zach Zientek
Z Farms Vendor
“People are doing their own things right now so, like, this year I feel like way more people are coming to the market right now, way more people are trying to get gardens going, way more people are getting chickens this year, everybody’s just trying to be self-sustainable. And so that really hits home for me because homesteading and permaculture are things that I’m very passionate about. So, if you’re at the market I sell gourmet mushrooms, but at home we have honeybees and, you know, fruit trees, a really nice annual vegetable garden, and raspberries and asparagus. You know, we’re trying to do those things and I was just telling my wife, getting into fall, that we’re gonna have to really push canning and getting us through the winter because we don’t know what’s gonna happen, and relying on big corporations and big farms miles away from here to supply us with our food is not something I really want to do.”
Geoff
Toledo Streets Vendor
“That we really need to be reflective, and to think, and to talk with each other. Actually to listen and learn from each other. Instead of yelling. Instead of yelling at each other. To show some humility and realize that this convoluted history of the United States, with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, (which any concerned protesters should be able to cite,) inherently from the beginning interwoven with expropriation of the land from the Native Americans and slavery, both of Africans and in many cases Native Americans.
We are better than the worst things that we’ve ever done.
And the worst things that are being done now.
And we need to try to draw upon the best from our history, and the best that we have today to make a better tomorrow.”
Andrew Hart
Guitarist
“The country belongs to the natives. I believe it still belongs to the natives, so we’re celebrating our independence of a nation that we stole. That’s kind of where I’m at with my answer. I don’t know. It’s hard to celebrate something that’s ill-gotten if you know what I mean. That’s how I feel about it.”
Corinne Cassis
Sitto’s Bakery Vendor
“I think with everything that’s gone on, not just with COVID, but with all of the political stuff, it shows how strong America can be and how we always move to be a more perfect union. We are terribly flawed. We’re like a big messy family. We can put all the crap right out there on every social media, on all TV. We have the right to disagree. I wish we could disagree respectfully.
But we always strive to be a more perfect union. We take three steps forward and four steps back. We analyze, we argue, we disagree, and then we learn how to come together a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more.
There are so many disparities that if you are, like, white middle class, or whatever it is, to know how hard it is to get out of a system. We have no clue what goes on. The only way I kind of do is because when we had a restaurant we hired someone who was the first one in her entire extended family who had never been to jail. We she first told me that, I didn’t understand how hard that was for her. I didn’t realize how hard that was for her until I really looked at what life was like. She was a fabulous cook, we gave her a raise, put her full time, and she went just over the poverty line where all of her benefits were taken away.
How awful that we can’t help anyone get out of the system. You go from having your rent subsidized, your children’s health care, and all of that stuff, and because you make less than $5 an hour more, everything is taken away. You can’t do that to people. We’re wealthy enough to help you along the way. If you’re poor, we give you all these handouts but we don’t give you a hand up. It’s hard. There should be more of a public-private partnership with everything. There should be more mentoring. People want to help.
And even though I just finished about how hard it is to get out of the system. It is possible that you can. There is no country that offers this.
I’ll be 62. When I left corporate America, I was in my late 50s. I am doing so much better now than when I was an executive in retail. You know, not many other countries you can totally change course and do well. America gives you a lot of hope, a lot of freedom, a lot of opportunities. You have to work really hard. And it’s exhausting.
And there are so many things that are unfair. But there is a hope that you can call your congressman or your senator and say, I want this change. And it may not get changed today or tomorrow. But you have the ability to call them.”
