By GEORGE CUSTER/Editor — Good morning America. It’s July 4th, 2023. I just came back home from helping put out the flags along 1st Street this morning in the Uptown District of Oakridge. The Uptown Business & Revitalization Association (UBRA) has been performing this task for about 14 years now. I also understand that the ordeal was performed for years back when Oakridge had a Junior Chamber of Commerce decades ago.
I help with the flags because I support that organization’s ideals – that adorning our street with the flag of our country means something. Also, that it means there are people who want to come together for a common cause: pride in our country. That those people CAN come together without fear of recrimination also means something.
Rather than the usual “Happy 4th of July”, we should also try to keep “Happy Independence Day” alive as we greet our friends and neighbors. What we have as a country is precious and yet fragile. Try not to take this day for granted.
Today there will be picnics and barbeques. Tonight there will be fireworks. Please raise your drink at whatever outing you may be at and toast our independence as a nation. It’s like no other.
Not being an orator myself, I bow to those who have so eloquently put into words that have inspired Americans over the centuries.
I leave you with this quote:
“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.
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