Shhh … don’t tell anyone my secret, but here’s how I can take a day off (like today, the 4th of July), but still have my daily blog record July 4, 2006 as the date posted. As I may have mentioned in a previous blog, the server for the Argus-Courier is back East … a different time zone. Consequently, I can post my blog between 9 p.m. and midnight, the day before and it will be dated the next day. Better yet, I can simply pre-set the “Date & Time” tab in advance for the desired date and it will automatically appear at that time. Pretty neat, huh? Thank you ICT.
Why do I want the day off? I will be walking the walk, this morning (10:30-11:00 a.m.) as “Mr. William Howard Pepper” on the front steps of the Petaluma Historical Museum & Library, as a participant in their annual July 4th Bell Ringing Ceremony. My role will be to tell the story behind this bell ringing tradition for our Petaluma. Another historic Petaluman of Yesteryear, Mr. Isaac Wickersham, will be there to tell the audience about the importance and significance of this major national holiday.
After the formal program, everyone will be invited to walk up the steps … ring the bell … and pass through to the courtyard for lemonade and cookies … just like the good old days. We’ll mingle and chat, face-to-face; thereby experiencing a sense of community that just cannot be achieved electronically over the Internet. Later in the day, many Petalumans will gather again for picnics and to watch public firework displays. I’ll be watching, too, but from my backyard where I have my own bell which I will ring 13 times to signal my thanks to all the signers of our Declaration of Independence, that was adopted by our Second Continental Congress, 230 years ago, on July 4, 1776.
As I explained in Our Petaluma #12, no bells were rung that day; however, the bells of Philadelphia did ring out on July 8th, for the first public reading of this historic document. For those readers who look up and read the complete document (it’s online; just use a search engine), you’ll come to the closing sentence … “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” For the record, I’m willing to declare my support for “freedom and independence” as articulated in this sacred document. How about you?
Happy 4th of July!