As American as a Fourth of July Parade and Mass Shootings.

 I arrived in the U.S.A. on or about July 6th 1976.  It was the Bicentennial year and I thought it wise for this Limey to arrive after the Independence Day celebrations.

I was bound for Fitchburg, MA to be the Deacon, then Priest in Charge at the  Church of the Good Shepherd.

It was not until I began my ministry in Pittsfield, MA that I encountered a b....i...g  Fourth of July Parade.  The parade went by St. Stephen's Parish where we set up camp on the front lawn and sold lemonade and hot dogs etc. to benefit Church Funds.  A lot of work for a small return.

One year I was asked to be on the Reviewing Stand on Wachonah Street.  My companion was Rabbi Harold Saltzman. We were more  interested in jaw boning about theology than enjoying the Parade!

The PittsfieldParade was so big that  Public T.V. broadcasted it live for three or so years. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi!

The biggest and oldest American Fourth of July Parade is in Bristol R.I.  This Bristolian never got to see it.

My favourite parade was in Freeport, ME.  I happened to be there some thirty years ago.  It was a small town celebration in which the audience knew just about every participant.  These photo's are from the web, not from the day when I was in Freeport.

OH WHAT FUN.  OH HOW CAREFREE.

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But now a Fourth of July parade is as American as mass shootings. 

Highland Park, Illinois  July 4th parade: 6 dead, 24 injured in mass shooting.

Of course it could have been in Fitchburg or Freeport.

Of course it could happen in my local Supermarket, or at the Opera House, or at a Concert.

Violence is at every hand.  No American has unbridled security.

But Note:  Despite Donald Trump's fulminations (Mexican immigrants are rapists; black young men are thugs) the perpetrators are not the "to be feared" Mexican immigrants, nor our  down trodden Black citizens.

The shooters are most likely to be disaffected young white men,

who are consumed with Trump induced  anger, and who have all too

easy access to automatic weapons,