It’s 5 a.m. as I begin to type out this 4th of July edition of Screencaps, and I’m left wondering if any of the founding fathers had a 13-year-old son who begged to run a 4-mile race before the Continental Congress sat down to adopt the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago today.
Here I am this morning celebrating freedom with a 7 a.m. starting line meetup time for Screencaps Jr. with thunderstorms in the area. I was in bed last night by 9:30. It was probably a very similar night to the one Benjamin Franklin had on July 3, 1776. He was 70 at the time and about to sign the most important document in the history of the world the next morning. One has to believe Franklin got in the sack early ahead of his big day.
So now I’m up and ready to experience a day and a world that the Declaration signers wouldn’t believe. We’ll probably stop and get a coffee made by purple-hair LIBS at a drive-thru in our 2023 Honda Odyssey while listening to a radio powered by satellites. Thomas Jefferson’s head would explode over the thought of Americans sitting in line at Starbucks and scrolling through a phone with 24/7 internet access and the ability to communicate in real-time with humans around the world.
Just think, we can send a text from our couches right now and tell people in Great Britain to eff-off.
Based on records from July 4, 1776, we know that the boys got together at 9 a.m. for a meeting. Horseflies were a major issue. It was 76 degrees that day in 1776. The record also states that the boys were wearing heavy wool coats and silk stockings in the middle of summer in Philly. Just imagine!
Now, with the freedoms extended to us due to that precious document signed that day, we now have access to sweat-wicking long-sleeve shirts, mainly made in China, that help us battle the sweltering sun.
THE LESSON WE CAN LEARN FROM BICENTENNIAL HISTORY IS TO PARTY LIKE ITS 1976
Times sure have changed.
Unlike our drunken 4th of July parties where people will ultimately blow off their fingers, Jefferson’s hand-written diary entries show that he spent the 4th by going out to a Philly bookstore to buy a thermometer and then to another store to buy gloves for Martha Jefferson.
Now, 250 years later, many of us will spend our night blowing up Chinese-made fireworks while drinking beer brands owned by foreign nationals.
AMERICAS NEXT 250 YEARS DEPEND ON PASSING FAITH AND FREEDOM TO OUR CHILDREN
The calendar changes, but what remains is that we are the luckiest people in the history of the world to call this our home. The work put in by the founding fathers 250 years ago today paved the way for us to experience lake weekends on our big, beautiful boats and for us to go out our backdoors to jump in our pools without some scumbag Brit telling us how to live.
Now it is up to all of us to continue forward to ensure that this American experience exists 250 year
