This column first ran on July 3, 2024:
Independence Day, the day in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, our foundational document, reads like a petition for dissolution of marriage.
Recently in this village we’ve had a string of events that, in one way or another, were celebrations of freedom.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved people were free. Sort of. Turns out they couldn’t actualize their freedom independently.
German Fest – Starting in 1820, more than six million people in “committed relationships” with German-speaking countries left what they considered abusive situations — military conscription, economic hardship, religious persecution — and entered into a new committed relationship with the U.S. in which they believed they would have more liberty.
But the liberty they experienced in the new relationship could be frightening, isolating and uncomfortable, so they coped with their individualistic freedom by becoming joiners — committing themselves to vereine, such as dancing groups, associations, and churches where they spoke German and associated with people with the same values and cultural memories.
One of the predecessor cemeteries of Forest Home was named Wald Heim. The old peoples’ home was named Altenheim. German was spoken in St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s and St. John Lutheran churches for up to 80 years. The cornerstone of what is now St. Paul Thai Lutheran Church on Dixon Street reads, “Duetsche Evangelische Lutheranische Kirche 1899.”
German Fest, among other things, is a celebration of belonging.
Pride Fest – When I was growing up I didn’t know any gay people, or at least I thought I didn’t, because 99% were in the closet. I wonder if they even admitted to each other that they were attracted to the same sex. Those who did functioned under the social radar.
Times have changed. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, 7.2% of U.S. adults openly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual.
But the pioneers enabling the change didn’t do it alone.
In 1924, Henry Gerber founded the first gay rights organization in America: The Society for Human Rights. Harry Hay and others organized the Mattachine Society in 1950. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin founded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, the first lesbian rights organization in the U.S.
Erich Krumrei organized the first Pride Fest in Forest Park by himself in 2022, but this year the celebration of LGBTQ+ rights and culture was also hosted by OPALGA+ (Oak Park Area Gay and Lesbian Alliance) and the village of Forest Park.
Freedom, it turns out, is hardly ever a solely independent achievement.
The members of the Progress Center for Independent Living are dependent on personal caregivers or technological aids or ADA laws enabling mobility. Progress in the disability community is never purely independent.
A friend of mine, who was talking about what it’s like to get old, told me, “It’s hard for me to ask for help.”
Indeed. Since I was diagnosed with my progressive disorder in 1997, my independence days have decreased significantly. My personal narrative was once one of increasing independence. Now at 76 years old with a disability, that myth has been turned inside out and upside down.
Business owners in town resist government regulations on the one hand but on the other hand lobby for zoning regulations, breaks that promote business, and 160 members voluntarily pay dues to the nonprofit Chamber of Commerce to do what they cannot do independently.
At the top of the food chain, eagles live independently. Sea Gulls live in flocks, and most small fish swim in schools.
I’m not sure if any of us, living in this village with small town charm, are eagles.
Frank Sinatra once sang, “I did it my way.” At best that statement is naïve. At worst it’s arrogant.
One issue in the upcoming presidential election will be the size of government, whether governments, for example, should be able to mandate mask wearing or vaccine immunization or not. Freedom for MAGA folks means not being required to get a vaccine. Freedom for Progressives means not catching COVID from someone who hasn’t been vaccinated.
Or take a look at the issue of immigration. The surge at the border is motivated by millions longing for freedom from violence and poverty and striving to gain freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
At first, most of us in this progressive lifestyle enclave were in favor of welcoming the stranger — in the abstract — until it began to affect our lifestyle in terms of village budgets. We had to choose, increase our charity, which meant increasing our taxes or telling those freedom seekers that they had to leave.
Freedom, as they say, isn’t free. How willing are we to put our money where our mouth is?
It’s partly a spiritual issue. According to my worldview, love includes the freedom, at least temporarily, to give up some of my individual freedom so that others with less can have more.
Read Tom’s blog at jerihttps://tomholmes10.substack.com.