I really dislike holidays, including both the secular ones (like the big one tomorrow) and the "holy" ones: the Sunday-Go-to-Meetin' Days, the Sabbaths—of, if you speak with a
Cockney accent, the Allah Days. About the only good thing to be said for them is that they excuse us from going to the office. Everything else about them is a downer. Like tomorrow, you're supposed to set off fire crackers or sparklers or "fireworks," and if you don't set them off yourself, try to get away from those who do. Or try to avoid the ghastly "fireworks stands" that spring up wherever fools with money to burn can be expected to see them.
Philosophically, my main objection to "holy days" is that if any day is holy, then they all are, and to single particular days out to make a big to-do about being extra good or whatever is, in reverse, to single all the other days out to slough off and be mediocre, or worse. Essentially the same objection applies to Mother's Day and Father's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day...and the Fourth of July. If parents (or children) deserve to be honored, they deserve to be honored everyday, not just on one "special" day of the year. If our Nation or our Founding Fathers or the Declaration of Our Independence is worth celebrating, then isn't it worth celebrating (genuinely, in our minds and hearts) everyday?
To teach our children to celebrate Independence Day on one day of the year, and to do so with dangerous toys that make loud noises and go flash, sends a corrupting message: it's not really that important, it's just an excuse to over-eat watermelons and hot dogs and act more rowdily and foolishly than usual.
