History

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom.

~ Malcolm X

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Celebrating the founding of the United States is a complex issue.  We celebrate different ways. Some people do not celebrate it at all.  I think it's important to think about our history on this date.  And I always think it's important to think not just about the good parts of our history, but the very bad parts of our history.  All of those pieces make up where we are today.

Here is an exchange I had with my brother a while ago (a couple of years ago) about how to celebrate July 4th.

Me:  Kirk, I just made "Mom's Banana Split Dessert" for 4th of July.  Jealous?  Also, why were we so poor with the creativity in food-naming at our house?  Consider the following in addition to "Mom's Banana Split Dessert."

* "Chip Cookies" (not chocolate chip cookies, but the cookies that look like chips)

* "The Hot Dish that Chelle and Erik Like"

* "Those Brownies that Grandma Makes"

The most creative food name we have is "Fruit Salad" which is what we call a bowl of grapes.  And I think Jared came up with that.

Kirk:  I started reading this and totally thought you were wrong or exaggerating...  And then as I read, I knew exactly what each of those was and could not come up with another name for any of them...  BTW, I love "Those Brownies that Grandma Makes."

As you can tell, not only in the history of nations complex, but the history of persons who make up nations is also complex.