Things to Celebrate

One evening several months ago Mr. J and I were sitting home watching tv when, off in the distance, we heard Sizzzzzlleeee ZAP!!!! And then the lights went out. Then we heard Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Looking out the window all the lights on our street were out. An hour or so later the lights came back on. We talked about the number of places where those combined sounds and the lights going out would be ominous signs. We live near a shooting range and those pops sounded remarkably like gunfire. Yet people went on about their business, or as much as possible in the dark. There were no riots in the streets, no one hid in their basement in fear. We all just assumed a transformer had blown.

This simple sense of safety is a rare luxury in many parts of the world. That is one of the things we celebrate on July 4th.