Welcome To the Weekend...
And with it the annual celebration of this nation's independence from the "Crown" (that would be ENGLAND for all the "historically-inhibited" out there).
Independence Day was supposed to be the 2nd of July, but with ANY group of politicians, there was some bickering, and things were pushed back to the 4th. Good for us, because somehow yelling "Put out the flag...It's the SECOND OF JULY", doesn't quite roll off the tongue all that well. Must be the monosyllabic aspect of the word FOURTH.
Anyway, John Adams might have been a great rabble-rouser, and an excellent statesmen, but he wasn't all that up to speed when it came to time lines and calendar dates. he even wrote his wife saying the Declaration of Independence would be completed on the 2nd. Lucky for everyone concerned it wasn't, eh?
Now this is one of the most important days in THIS nation, make no mistake about that. And to me it was always right up there with MEMORIAL DAY and VETERAN'S DAY. To my Dad it was the "big three", and it was one days such as this when we'd pack up and take a drive to some local AIR SHOW, or go downtown to watch a PARADE.
Seemed we used to do a LOT more of them back in the 1960s.
It was all about PATRIOTISM.
And that's something (too many) Americans have lost touch with.
Wanting what is BEST for this nation and her people constitutes part of patriotism.
The willingness to make a sacrifice FOR this nation is another aspect to patriotism.
The selfless devotion TO this nation in good times as well as bad is another hallmark of patriotism.
It can be as simple as flying our flag, or it be as profound as losing a son or daughter in another country while KNOWING that the life they gave was for the cause of what this nation was founded upon in the first place...namely FREEDOM and LIBERTY.
But maybe we're too busy setting off fireworks to notice all that. After all, that's not as "exciting".
Liberty and freedom can most times be downright BORING, but they are the BUILDING BLOCKS of this country, and the reasons YOU can set those fireworks off in the first place. They are the reasons you can say "NO" when someone else says "YES".
Today was the first milestone in this nation's journey, and I feel that there are many more along our trek along history's road.
And like any sojourn, sometimes it's nice to pull the car over and take a gander of that spectacular VIEW that doesn't cost one red cent. maybe we all need to do that a bit more frequently...just so we don't forget.
(CAUTION - SEGUE ALERT)
And speaking about NOT forgetting....let it not be said that THIS blog doesn't bring you stories AS THEY HAPPEN in our fair city.
Take last evening for example.
We had a car pull up in front of the house around 2050 HRS...no big deal, right? Well, stay with me, now. The car was occupied by THREE males (2 white, one mixed ethnicity). The mixed male gets out and into a van that pulled in front of the car, and the van drove further down the street. Right away I though "drug deal", so I kept watching.
I initially thought it "could" be some U/Cs doing a buy, but the more I watched, the "antsier" the one male in the car became. This young man was chewing his fingers the whole time, and I told the wife "he must be up to the 2nd knuckle by now" The other male was slouched back in the passenger seat.
After about 20 minutes of this I thought it was taking too damn long for a buy, even for a U/C team, so called it into dispatch as a code 48, 36 (suspicious - parked vehicle occupied).. After being placed on HOLD by the FWPD desk (wtf?) I finally got the call through, and didn't expect to even see anyone arrive on scene until long after these guys drove off.
Nice to be WRONG, for once.
Within FIVE minutes, a black SUV pulled up across the street as well as the "Batmobile" (the all black Impala with the cage in the back seat). THREE officers surrounded the car, and asked the boys to step out.
And then...things got, shall we say... "interesting".
Officers patted the guys down, had them sit on the curb, while they turned their attention to the vehicle.
After all was said and done, the FWPD officers found a nice size bag of REEFER...a DIGITAL SCALE...AND A STUN GUN. There was also a bag in the trunk (empty) but was taken along as it had some residue in it.
Not a bad haul for a "typical PD call". The officers were ALL smiling from ear to ear on this one. One was even showing the others the stun gun. It was one of those $50 models that cranks out over 100,000 volts (the Panther - trust me, I know my ordnance)
The boys were both "cuffed and stuffed", and the vehicle became the property of the Allen County/Fort Wayne IMPOUND YARD when Kelley's flatbed took it away. Well, at least these two guys didn't NEED A RIDE HOME, did they?. They are now "guests" of the AC lockup, and all because someone took a few moments to act on something that didn't appear right. Imagine that, eh?
Lesson to be learned here?
There are TWO, really:
1) NEVER try to do something illegal IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE.
It WILL cost you. It will cost you BIG.
2) Always go with your gut instinct.
And it was #2 that made #1 possible.
(How's THAT, Phil?)
And in retrospect, it feels REAL GOOD...damn, I miss that rush. This was better than watching COPS. And like ANY good show...it is ALWAYS BETTER LIVE.
So remember that when you go to the fireworks tonight.
It's live, and it'll be fantastic.
Always remember that there ARE people like me that will ALWAYS give a damn.
And if it were not for others that, back in the late 18th century (living here) did not feel likewise, things would have panned out a LOT more differently for us all.
Stay safe & have a gloriously patriotic weekend.
Fly the flag proudly!
And to our troops around the globe...Carry On!