Sparklers

Prompt #1: How did you celebrate the 4th of July when you were young? Sparklers? Fireworks at the high school or water front?

Prompt #2: Feel like drawing? Design a new flag for the United States of America. What images do you feel best represent our nation?

Prompt #3: In the USA, we celebrate the 4th of July honoring independence and freedom in our country. What does freedom mean to you?

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My Journal Page

Journal Response: Prompt #3

Freedom is hard to define. I’m white and have many blessings. I’d say I know freedom because I have been afforded many opportunities that enrich my life. I haven’t experienced war or extreme poverty or homelessness. I haven’t been discriminated against because of the color of my skin. Other than the fact that I am a woman, I think I know freedom. Yet, I don’t, really.

Hazel Scott explains the emptiness one feels when ALL people aren’t free:

“Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom? If we can’t go hand in hand, I don’t want to go.”

May we all work to make our country truly a free country. Free from fear of poverty, of gun violence, of hunger, of racism, of homelessness. May we all, some day, walk hand in hand to true freedom.