Whatever else you have on your mind,
Wherever else you think you're going,
Stop for a moment and look where you are:
You Have Arrived!

Independence Day:
Thoughts from Kaye

by Kaye Bailey
Published June 24, 2005, You Have Arrived

If two things define my childhood the first would be my obesity, the struggle to be me in the body of a little fat girl. The second would be a profound sense of patriotism. You see, I turned ten the year our nation celebrated the Bicentennial.

1976 was a great year to be a kid in this country. Skateboards were the craze and the Eagles sang "Hotel California." Apple Computer was founded and NASA landed Viking 1 on Mars sending to Earth pictures of the famous "Face on Mars." We learned about ecology and celebrated Earth Day. And in 1976 this country celebrated the Bicentennial of the United States of America; 200 years of independence.

On a hot July 4th in southern California this little fat girl carried a colonial flag in a patriotic pageant celebrating 200 years of national independence. It was the biggest thrill of my young life. I don’t suppose I understood why tears fell from the face of patriots who’d just come home from across the sea fighting for a cause in which we did not believe. I don’t suppose I understood the lump in my own throat when the marching band played the national anthem and I tried to sing along. I did know that I was an American, proud and lucky and strong. An American: Citizen of the most powerful nation in the world, resident in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And I, the little fat girl, wearing a blue gingham skirt and a white button down shirt, carried the colonial flag in the Bicentennial pageant.

It was Independence Day.

Today I’m grown and have long since bid farewell to the Little Fat Girl. But come July 4th in a tiny Rocky Mountain town I’ll stand on the sidewalk of Main Street, my hand over my heart, tears rolling down my cheeks unashamed when the old men from the American Legion carry our colors in the home town parade. I’ll cry for our country and for the cause we are fighting but do not understand. I’ll swallow the lump in my throat and try to sing the words as the high school marching band plays the national anthem and collectively across this land we salute our nation and celebrate our freedom.

For you see, I may have shed my obesity and declared my independence from the sadness and personal tyranny it held over me. But I have never shed my patriotism, my sense of country, my love of America. I am an American woman, free and independent of personal or political tyranny and oppression. And though the years may have jaded my politics, they have not tarnished my love of this country. And for just a few minutes come July 4th I’ll remember being a proud little girl carrying the colonial flag in the patriotic pageant.

Let Freedom Ring, its Independence Day.

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