three myths in one

One of the joys of living in Mexico is that I get to celebrate three national creation myths.

During the winter, a large contingent of Canadians and a handful of Americans head south to enjoy the sybaritic pleasures of Barra de Navidad and San Patricio Melaque. They join a much smaller group of Canadians and Americans who live here all year.

Even though foreigners always have a certain untoward effect upon the places they visit, the villages here on the Costalegre are Mexican. Thoroughly Mexican.

Today is the Fourth of July -- the day Americans celebrate their independence from their colonial overlords. Mexico has its own Independence Day on 16 September when it too threw off its colonial overlords with shouts of "death to the Spanish."

Canada celebrates a type of independence on 1 July when the three separate colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were combined into a single dominion. No tar and feathering. No war. Just a long peaceful transition. (happy 151st something, canada). I threw caution to the win and reveled in the day's glory on Wednesday with two hot dogs and a Coke.

I have celebrated the Fourth of July in several countries around the world. My favorite spot was in Great Britain. There was something about the thumb-in-the-eye that seemed just about right. But I balanced that out in Salem when I would fly the British flag each Fourth of July. The contrariness is inbred, I do believe.

This afternoon, I will be joining a few friends from church for an informal get-together to celebrate both the day and our special communion.

Celebrating both Canada Day and the Fourth of July here in Barra de Navidad seems a bit odd. Neither day means anything to my neighbors -- except those who wanted to sell me a large bag of fireworks for the day. Life will go on while we speak of our own national ideals.

What I am really looking forward to, though, is 16 September. There will fireworks aplenty and, depending on the status of the virus, parade after parade of children and teenagers doing their serious best to dress and act like the heroes of Independence.

But today, I will simply wish all of my American readers a Happy Fourth of July. The country has plenty of divisions. But, for one day, we can pause and consider what the country would be if we lived upo to our ideals:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In that spirit, I am going to ask that we focus on what unites us, and not what divides us. We should be able to do that for just one day, shouldn't we?

A happy Fourth of July to all of you.