[Post 9] - Nativitas
- Dani Romero
- Jun 25
- 10 min read
The 4th of July has increasingly become a conflicted holiday for me as a natural born citizen of the United States. The date is marked as the birth of our nation, when the Declaration of Independence was first adopted in 1776, establishing my country as its own sovereign nation. At the time of its implementation, the thirteen colonies maintained that they were now united and free, no longer subordinate to King George III or to Great Britain as a world power. As a citizen of the USA, you're brought up to mark the occasion with jubilation, fireworks, baseball games, parades and all kinds of joyful fairs as well as a day off work.
This was my childhood experience. In the morning my mom would take us to the Elmwood Park parade where local veterans walked, some with service dogs, and dressed up marchers tossed out candy from their cars. We'd grab lunch and eat slices of watermelon after roller skating in our apartment's parking lot, before finding a spot on the grass as the sun went down to watch fireworks go off, some from nearby park events, others from neighbor's yards. I felt good, proud to be American. I liked our anthem and that I'd been able to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance so accurately. I was in awe of the people who served in the different branches of the military, both a product of some family members being veterans themselves but also the thought of trying to do what they did totally terrified me. I couldn't imagine holding a gun, let alone being on a battlefield and fighting for survival to get back home. I was happy that I lived in a place that felt safe, where I could be encouraged to dream big and be anything I wanted to be if I worked hard enough.
I think there's a lot of kids that have had a similar experience, give or take some details, give or take the level of their passion for what was possible in their lives. I also think there's a lot of kids who never, ever experienced any kind of joy like that, let alone on the 4th of July. I think there are kids who grew up seeing other people celebrate the 4th of July like it was a slap in their face, a laugh at their suffering, their family's painful history. I think there are people now who watch others celebrate the holiday while they hide in fear of what some - who are too extreme in their patriotism - may do to the ones they love.
Now, at 37 years old, I worry about the upcoming fireworks. They terrify my dog (probably all dogs to some degree), and I now know how many veterans hear them and are paralyzed as if it's a blitz happening all over again. The evolution of my understanding surrounding fireworks is honestly emblematic of my changing feelings about America in general. I get really pissed off at America sometimes, for how we react (or don't) to national crises, for how we often prefer blissful ignorance rather than facing the systemic problems we have. I feel frustrated that many Americans don't seem to learn the important lessons that our history tries to teach us. At times these may be subtle lessons, but more often than not they are bloody and violent in their upheaval. We put band-aids on gaping wounds and wonder why the injured keep crying.
Still, the United States is founded on one of the most important and preservative documents of the freedoms that all should be afforded in order to be truly free: the Constitution. The articles within the Constitution literally allow all people within our country to be protected in ways that many other countries do not afford. As with all things man-made, it is imperfect, and globally speaking, the United States ranks about 15th among the most 'free' places to live. We do not yet afford federal protections for gender equality, the right to healthcare and education, and quite a few other standards of living that a person should not be without. It can be said that these issues are due in part to restricting the government from 'interfering' in the lives of citizens, but a more honest reality is that there are very, very wealthy and powerful people in positions of influence who live consumed by their greed. That's it. Period. No further notes.
Without those individuals standing in the way of the progress of millions of people, I imagine a far greater utopia that American could be.
That's not to say that we have not already seen decades and decades of progress.
The American Civil War, an event that lead to the emancipation of millions of slaves, celebrated on June 19th (Juneteenth) every year as a constant reminder that African Americans are still fighting for proper representation and protections as their neighbors are afforded.
The era of immigration, where more than twenty million people fled religious persecution, hunger, poverty or war in order to make a better life in a free country. The United States welcomed Eastern European Jews, Italians, Armenians, Mexicans, and more over decades, establishing a new, diverse national identity.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which finally acknowledged the right to vote for American women, a huge step forward in the fight for total gender equality.
The New Deal, a gargantuan public works initiative which was a direct response to the Great Depression. This resulted in the creation of social security which administers retirement, disability and survivor benefits to people in need across the nation.
The Civil Rights Movement, a grassroots effort of activism which urged the nation to adopt the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to legally dismantle segregation.
The Obergefell v. Hodges case, which prompted the Supreme Court to declare the Constitution as a document that guaranteed the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, finally giving comfort and closure to millions of people in relationships who had suffered persecution for decades.
Our Constitution specifically has articles built into it for amendments, so that we are free to constantly evaluate the rules that guide our country in order to better fit the times we live in and the will of the people living in those times. It's not at all often enough that we revisit our Constitution to adapt it, but with the right people representing the will of their people, we have the capability to transform our fates.
This brings me back to the current year, 2026, as we approach the 250th birthday, the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. We live in a tumultuous climate, sociologically, ecologically, economically. I have never in my life experienced so much instability in America. I can agree with the general consensus that we are made to believe we are more divided than we actually are, but what does knowing that fact even really do for us if we do not follow the thought with actions? If we do not take steps forward together to show one another that we care, that we want to listen, that we want to be heard, that we want to help, then of course who could know our intent?
This is why I find such importance in the act of voting, of protest and volunteer work for any number or category of charities. These individually are not solutions to the systemic issues that we face as a country; I'm not naive enough to not recognize that much has to happen in tandem in order for us to escape the trenches of fear. I have friends and family that might discount the validity of one of these things, or all of them. They are precious people in my life, people that I vehemently disagree with, but also care so much for that I insist upon approaching them with the subject again and again, in the hopes of changing their minds. It is this care that we must all adopt, not with hostility, but with patience and trusted resources. Time will naturally swing the pendulum of cultural change so that new generations will continue to be born more and more progressive, but why should we simply wait to see that card be played in the game of generations?
Can we not come together and face people who are different from us, to assume that they arrive with good intentions just as you do, to talk about the things we worry about, to consider solutions and find compromise? Online, I think it's nearly impossible to read a person's integrity. It's too anonymous of a platform to engage in; perhaps at one time we could count on one's earnestness, but with the tangible impact of social media on our society's psyche, I imagine that any debate had on public group pages or individual tweets is not 'on the level', as they say. Not completely.
When two people sit down together, both prepared to listen for the purpose of HEARING another view, both engaged out of care for another person's life to be made better, you are far more likely to trust their candor. That's just my opinion, though, to be clear, and it's easier said than done for many of us. Our country has been programmed for more than a century to blindly trust the opinions of the powerful, which often include a lot of finger-pointing at those who are different from them or from ourselves. Even the people who reject this sentiment have had their patience worn into a strand as thin as rice paper, many who do not feel it is their obligation to convince anyone of anything. The fact is, we have that freedom. We do not have to involve ourselves.
I think there will be a lot of people who read different parts of this letter and scoff at the implausibility of my desire to know other American citizens on the proposed level, or the ability of anyone to sit down in 2026 at opposite ends of the political spectrum and hold an effective conversation. I guess I agree that an argument is far more likely than a 'debate', but I often return to this feeling I hold right now in my heart, a refusal to believe that we all have given up on one another.
I'm frustrated and disheartened, more than I have ever felt in my entire life, to see what America is currently experiencing. I am afraid for so many people right now, afraid of rights being stripped from us because of ignorance and fear and lassitude, and I'm afraid of the physical, mental, emotional and social harm that is being done to everyone while we live through this turmoil. I also completely empathize with the skeptics, because these are people who have tried 'doing things the right way' (according to increasingly impossible standards set by our currently hobbled system) for so long that disorder is the only remaining solution to even be listened to and seen, let alone to try and enact change.
But I see events that anchor me in what might feel, at times, like a directionless void. I see individuals creating a wave of change that they are not obligated to participate in whatsoever. There's a Florida woman who has fed the homeless, more than 270,000 meals worth, with the help of her family's cooking efforts. A group of small, independently-owned businesses provide free moving services for victims of domestic violence in eight different states. A young man in New York carries dogs in a specialized backpack on the subway to promote their adoption. Three activists from California established the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, a social response to the discrimination experienced by African Americans in the United States which helped to influence major policy changes and systematic reforms.
All of these examples, an infinitesimal number of them in comparison to the good taking place every moment of every day, are perfectly used as a call to action on our own government of representatives: individual Americans can make extraordinary things happen. The government should be able to create even more progress by following that example. Bureaucracy can only be blamed for so long as an inhibitor to the success of growth. After all:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
WE establish what our country is meant to be. We choose our representatives and we enact our will through them. If our representatives do not accurately represent us, then we remove them. Granted, it's not always so simple as that, because unfortunately people lie and cheat and steal and lose themselves to the fear of 'other' in order to attract support of like-minds. Fear is easily stoked when so much is still wrong with our society. America has a long way to go yet.
All that I ask is that we do not give in to apathy and indifference, difficult though that might be. Our system, as it exists right now, actively works against us in that regard. We all have to rest during this struggle to maintain the dignity of our country. We have to find ways to remind ourselves that we share common goals more often than not. We must properly recover, body, mind and soul, to be able to offer ourselves to others for love. But consider the seismic shift already taking place in America, from the citizens facing down ICE invasions to protect their neighbors, to the inauguration and subsequent successes of Ugandan-born Zohran Mamdani, the current standing mayor of New York City who has barely been appointed and has already created sweeping, lasting change for his citizens. Both of these wins are results of our own Americans exercising their freedoms, using their wills to enact change, together.
On this 4th of July, I'll be contemplating all that we've done, and all that we can do, together. I'll be thinking of our failures, both past and current, but I'll also be planning future victories that I can create with my own hands and voice and actions. I hope that for the remainder of this year, and for years to come, I find myself working with friends, family, neighbors and strangers alike to create a more free America, one that reminds me of that pride I've experienced since my childhood, and one that inspires the feeling in ALL of us.
For Your Consideration:
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