Ten days ago, our nation celebrated one of its most significant holidays; Independence Day! Petaluma celebrated July 4th in its own, unique way, with the ringing of “our” Liberty Bell. Thirteen years after American declared their independence from Great Britain, citizens of France fought a similar battle that is now celebrated as their Declaration of Independence Day.
The French story, just like ours, can fill a library. The short version is captured below with quotes from other online sources. (Thanks to our Information Highway.) As I read them, my thoughts bounced back to the late 1940s when Bastille Day was celebrated at the Baltimore YMCA Camp Conoy on the Chesapeake, where I was a counselor. At the time, I was also studying French in high school. Vive la France!
“Bastille Day is a National holiday in France. It is very much like Independence Day in the United States because it is a celebration of the beginning of a new form of government. At one time in France, kings and queens ruled. Many people were very angry with the decisions made by the kings and queens. The Bastille was a prison in France that the kings and queens often used to lock up the people that did not agree with their decisions. To many, it was a symbol of all the bad things done by the kings and queens. So, on July 14, 1789, a large number of French citizens gathered together and stormed the Bastille.
Just as the people in the United States celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence as the beginning of the American Revolution, so the people in France celebrate the storming of the Bastille as the beginning of the French Revolution. Both Revolutions brought great changes. Kings and queens no longer rule. The people rule themselves and make their own decisions.” (The above paragraphs were borrowed from http://www.bry-backmanor.org/holidayfun/bastilleday.html)
“The French Declaration of 1789 is not simply a copy of the American Declaration of Independence, it takes as a starting point the the reflexions of the philosophy of the Enlightenment and in particular of authors like Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau. Admittedly, the US document had a great influence on the French. But the originality of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was conceived to recognize eternal and universal values. It thus had, after its publication, a great repercussion on the Western thought.” (From http://www.hightowertrail.com/Bastil.htm)
Food for Thought
Where might we be today if events that resulted in our July 4th and France’s July 14th did not take place? Are similar events occurring in today’s world? Are there still people, on the face of our Earth, seeking values similar to what Americans and French fought for over 200 years ago? Are these values still worth fighting for, today? Think about it!