“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways..”
– Isaiah 55:8
The July Fourth “America 250 Colorado 150” celebration in Yamaguchi Park, organized by Vets4Vets and who knows how many other local organizations, attracted an array of participants of all ages. Mostly, I noticed the little kids. Like, preschoolers and pre-preschoolers. And also, people who might have been, like, in their 20s and 30s, attached to those preschoolers and pre-preschoolers. I had no idea how many little kids lived in Pagosa Springs.
I’m not typically around little kids and their parents. Not the circle I travel in. As a matter of fact, I don’t travel in a circle. Mostly, I stay at home with my cat named Roscoe, and my cell phone, which doesn’t have a name.
Once upon a time, I traveled in a circle, but later discovered that the circle I traveled in was not my circle. It was my ex-wife’s circle.
A cat and a cell phone do not constitute a circle. More like, a triangle. But also, a triangle where I’m pretty much the boss.
Of course, both my cat and my phone each think they are the boss.
Mistakenly.
But to get back to “America 250″… a birthday celebration, of sorts in Yamaguchi Park, with a thousand people wearing red, white and blue.
One of the numerous tents in Yamaguchi Park on Saturday was hosted by our local historical society, and featured storytellers sharing tales of Pagosa Springs history. When I stopped by, purely out of curiosity, I found a couple dozen people listening to a man wearing a Native American warbonnet. He was sharing a story about his family, and not a particularly happy story.
During his youth, he told us, he had spent many years helping to raise younger members of his family, but many of those family members have now passed, often as the result of painful situations.
He confessed that he has been unable to understand why the Creator gave him the difficult task of raising family members who later suffered and died.
A lot of unpleasant, even frightening, things that we don’t fully understand, are in the news these days. Even as we tell ourselves that “America 250” is something we want to celebrate.
And if we’re tempted to cast blame for the current situation, the Creator is an easy target.
They didn’t have fireworks as part of the Pagosa celebration, due to the current (and ongoing?) drought in Colorado. Some people are blaming the drought on greenhouse gases… which is to say, on fossil-fuels-based capitalism, and on Americans in general. But also, let’s not forget the Chinese, who are still burning coal.
The advantage to pointing the blaming finger at humankind is, we understand exactly why we are doing what we’re doing.
The ways of the Creator, on the other hand, are mysterious. His ways are not our ways. And His thoughts are not our thoughts.
To make up for the lack of fireworks in Pagosa Springs on Saturday, the folks in Washington DC staged “the biggest fireworks show in human history.” More than 850,000 pyrotechnics, I understand.
At least 51 people were treated for heat-related illnesses, according to federal officials.
I’ve not sure if fireworks release greenhouse gases… but if they do, I doubt that even the world’s biggest fireworks display was enough to cause heat-related illness. More likely, those 51 people has been dressed too warm.
A lot of things have been “the biggest” lately. Not just fireworks displays. The biggest profits for oil companies, for example. The biggest federal debt. The biggest cuts to Medicaid. The biggest lies coming from politicians’ lips.
Makes me glad I live in a small town, where things are smaller. And maybe, safer.
Did I mention, we didn’t have any fireworks?
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.