July 10, 2007

Summit patriotism

With the increasingly heavy burden we are all paying for the war in Iraq, I found myself having a hard time getting “up” for this year’s Fourth of July. I realize we all have a tremendous amount to be grateful for, being Americans, yet sometimes I lose the real feeling of patriotism. I lose enthusiasm for all of the flag waiving on the nightly news.

I’ve come to realize that life is filled with nuance, complexity, subtlety and change. It, and we, are precious. Opening to the pain, and beauty, and wonder, and joy of all that life provides us is a remarkable process. Yet knowing all of this, I still find myself under-inspired about the Patriotism thing.

Luckily for me, I live on Donner Summit. Our Fourth of July Parade was a sea of Red, White, Blue, and Lime. That’s right, lime. Over 165 lime green t-shirts, on the cutest little kids I’ve ever seen, marched, paraded, rolled, and uni-cycled past me all reading “Kids 4 Donner Summit.”

An annual parade, this year was the first ever unified theme. The children have spoken. They do not want to live amongst hundreds and hundreds of condos, nor do they want their summertime lake dredged into a water storage reservoir.

They want to save the Summit. They like the forest the way it is. They wrote a song about no development. They had a special dance. They made banners, they had floats, they were in costume, they had four-foot long streamers flowing out of their hair. One little girl, her nose just barely over the information table, with big brown eyes, proudly handed over $3 to donate to our legal fund.

These kids were enthusiastic and they were PATRIOTIC. These Kids for Donner Summit reminded me that some things are worth fighting for. Let’s hope that Foster/Syme will listen to the children.

Nancy Minges, M.A.

Serene Lakes