America plus another 250 years?
Now there’s a thought. The future is arriving.
In my long ago, there was a famous TV cartoon show called The Jetsons. The opening theme song (here ) was a landmark of the day, all about the future where dad George Jetson, wife Jane, “his boy Elroy,” and daughter Judy went about their lives in the American future. Replete with private jet travel for George, family, and seemingly everybody else.
And now? That future has arrived — sort of.
No, we’re not all zipping around in private jet fueled see-through bubbles. But yes there are private jets out there for sure. And yes, Americans have gathered together to watch American astronauts roam the moon and live in a decidedly future-esque 21st century. Americans are for certain on the way to the America of now-plus-250 years.
Americans of today, not to mention the world, know the choice those delegates in Philadelphia made over those four days in July. So too does the world.
Not to date myself, but in 1964 my always forward-looking Mom took my young self to the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.
One of the fascinating exhibits was displayed by Bell Telephone. The exhibit? Telephones with television screens in them that envisioned a future where we could all have phones with TVs in them. In the future, we were told, you could both talk to others and see them on the phone. Or, if you liked, watch your favorite TV show or movie on the phone. The crowds at the fair were amazed — my younger self included! Now, here we are in 21st century America — a mere 62 years later! — and everybody is in fact walking around talking to each other with phones that have TVs in them. The future has arrived!
In the long ago, when I was a kid, I was gifted with a book called Four Days in July by historian Cornel Lengyel. Described by Wikipedia as “an American poet, historian, playwright and translator,” Lengyel’s book is a detailed and fascinating look at the four days in the Philadelphia of 1776 and “The Story Behind the Declaration of Independence.” And a fascinating story it is.
Here’s a small bit from the book’s opening:
With troops of the enemy landing on their shores less than a hundred miles from Philadelphia the divided delegates know they can no longer postpone decision on the hard question before them. The hour is near when each of them must stand up and be counted.
All of them surmise that the vote they cast this Monday morning, the first of July, will change their lives and fortunes. It will affect their reputations for the rest of their days. The choice they make can raise them high, high enough to satisfy the hangman. It can also change the course of events in the New World for generations to come.
Americans of today, not to mention the world, know the choice those delegates in Philadelphia made over those four days in July. So too does the world. What those delegates in Philadelphia did that July did indeed “change the course of events in the New World for generations to come.”
So as their 21st century descendent Americans gather to celebrate yet again what was done that July 4th, it is more than worth a moment of silence and gratitude to those delegates for what they did those few days in Philadelphia. Not to mention make the promise that their descendants — the current generations — will carry on that promise into America’s — and the world’s — future. Into the America of 2276.
Happy Fourth of July!
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