I Do Not Like Mondays

Fire up the grill and bring on the hotdogs, hamburgers, and fireworks displays! Today is the summer’s big holiday in the U.S. of A., the Fourth of July, and this is the 250th lap around the sun since those original signers penned their names.

More formally, this is the nation’s semiquincentennial.

In the lead-up to today, that number has been pretty much everywhere in commemorating celebrations as well as on clothing, goods of all kinds, and more. Many businesses are looking to cash in and draw some attention to themselves as they ride the country’s considerable coattails. Probably more Americans than usual are going around saying “Happy Fourth” to each other in conversations or in passing.

It’s definitely significant, and people are recognizing the day and taking part in festivities however they choose.

There’s also some additional attention on this nation as the 2026 Fifa World Cup is taking place here, with the U.S. men’s team notably faring better in that competition this time around than their perhaps more expected lackluster performance.

Yet other international attention isn’t as light or positive as that, meanwhile, like the U.S.’s war with Iran. It’s an understatement to say it’s a mixed bag and clearly a politically tumultuous, divisive environment in many ways.

Meanwhile, we live in an era when attention spans (and maybe memories, too) among the broader public have been growing shorter and shorter. Though 250 years of a constitutional republic is certainly a significant milestone, it’s more like a drop in the bucket if we’re looking at the relative ages of nations and nationhood.

Look at it this way: 250 years amounts to just five people, counting back-to-back, living to the age of 50, a birthday I myself just reached in recent weeks.

Then take Egypt, for example, which has millennia of history, or China, whose existence also dates back thousands of years — but that might depend on how you ask the question. For instance, though their particular roots stretch back much farther, nations such as modern Italy or Germany haven’t existed in their current iterations as long as the U.S.A. has.  

In that same way, you must also factor in the relative historical viewpoints of the U.S.A., which was functioning in its colonial period long before the 1776 Declaration of Independence. And if we shift the focus to include all the indigenous peoples of this land, all bets are off; it’s believed to have been inhabited for more than 10,000 years before pilgrims ever landed at Cape Cod or Plymouth Rock in what would eventually become part of Massachusetts.

So happy birthday indeed, United States! Don’t overlook that there are various perspectives to consider when celebrating and marking this milestone.

And I’ll have my hotdog(s) with a gluten free roll, please, and maybe just ketchup.