Thursday, July 6, 2017

The Colors of Patriotism

Happy belated Independence Day!  I hope yours was as awesome as mine.  I spent the evening in Harrisburg with some friends.  There was a food truck festival going on with fireworks afterwards.  I found a food truck with a short line, so I bought myself an overpriced pretzel and strawberry lemonade and headed back to where my friends and I agreed we would meet.  I was the first one back.  So, I decided to do some people watching.
Harrisburg, though small, is a city of great diversity.  Looking around, I saw people of many different nationalities and cultures.  I heard many different languages being spoken.  But what stuck out the most was the one thing everyone had in common:  the 4th of July.
Everyone at the festival, as far as I knew, was American.  Even though some people had different colored skin and some people spoke with accents or in completely different languages, everyone was celebrating being an American.  I saw a young Muslim family waving hand-held American flags.  My friends and I sat near an African family, the parents speaking with an accent.  Everyone was so friendly and just having a good time.
This, in my opinion, is what being an American looks like.  Different colored skin.  Different accents and languages.  Different styles of dress.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the city, surrounded by my fellow patriots.

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