Editorial: Small town fun in a big way

This Friday is the day to wear flag colors, eat picnic food, sing patriotic songs and gather together in a common place to remind ourselves that we are a community.

As a nation, we are once again surrounded by a world in turmoil. Those among us face the prospect that our parents, siblings and children could be called again to fight on foreign shores. Some are still there, or returning yet again in areas where insurgency has resumed or where peace is ever ephemeral.

Even — no especially — when dark days loom all around, it is important to remind ourselves of the good things in life: family, friendship, living in a nation of plenty, the closeness of community and the simplicity of a warm summer day spent in frivolous pursuits.

We are fortunate that these things are available to us, when so many around the world must do without.

Our thanks are owing to the many people who have worked tirelessly to make it possible to enjoy this Independence Day in a way that we haven’t been able to do in quite a long while.

For some years, the most notable thing about The Dalles on Independence Day has been its silence: No parades, not even a holiday picnic and only small fireworks.

This year those who venture down to the Lewis and Clark Festival Park will find breakfast, a fun run, a parade, live music, fun and games, food and drink — a full day’s worth — and reputedly the biggest fireworks celebration the gorge has ever seen.

Though our world is never free from troubles, the people of our region and our nation — even most on the lowest economic rungs — are fortunate to live in a world of greater prosperity and comfort than the vast majority of the world’s people.

Most of us have never had to worry where our next meal comes from, whether we will find shelter from the elements or can find clean water to drink.

Yes, our nation has experienced attacks on its own soil over the past two decades, but with few exceptions we’ve known almost a century and a half of peace within our own borders.

Our forefathers — the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence — sacrificed greatly on behalf of a better future. While the real sacrifices of these men may have been exaggerated and polished over time, all of them pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” to the cause of independence.

They fought against a world where soldiers were routinely billeted in private homes using conscripted goods. Taxation without representation was the law. And fundamental rights we take for granted today did not yet exist.

As the world has become more complex and close today some of those rights have suffered.

But we retain a basic framework of freedom that has stood the test of two centuries.

Even with trouble looming around us, that’s something to celebrate.