Preparing for my least favorite holiday of the year

Where were you 10 years ago? I was having this sad little conversation.
Guy I used to work with: Wow. I never MET someone who hated fireworks before.
Me: (pathetically using the only comeback I could think of) Yeah, well I never met someone who hated the Beatles before.

I really havent grown to love fireworks, or the holiday that inspires them, any more since then. And especially in wartime, I think we should be questioning what our government is doing and speaking out against it, rather than blindly celebrating it. And what is our celebration if not an affirmation of the powers that be?

Thanks to Jan, who already said it better than I can:

Last summer I heard Brian McLaren bravely declare at a Darfur fundraiser -- and at the foot of The Lincoln Memorial no less -- that he is offended as a Christian when he hears a politician say "God bless America" to close a speech. God has already blessed America beyond what most nations can scarcely imagine, he said (or something like that.) A more faithful response would be to turn to weaker nations and bless them in response to our wealth. We are not the center of the universe.

And as much as I love my country, idolizing it is a sin. We don't worship flags any more than we worship the symbols of the church. We are supposed to be worshipping only One. As a nation, we have fallen short of the glory of God and we need to ask for forgiveness.

And who also introduced me to this website. Yikes, there are some things I guess I'm glad not to know too much about.

And speaking of yikes. You might think that this is a joke. But it really is someone's idea of a patriotic theme.