With Independence Day upon us – not to mention America’s 250 th Anniversary – I wanted to write something heartwarmingly patriotic. I truly did. But as deadline approached, my heart just wasn’t feeling all that warm.

Even the stories I was reading about World Cup visitors dazzled by the US were leaving me semi-cold. Or, at best, room temp. Apparently, these overseas travelers have been captivated by our friendliness, but even more so by our vast array of giant convenience stores (special shout out to Buccee’s), the mind-boggling panoply of soft drink flavors at McDonald’s, and our bottomless supply of free ice. I tried to embrace that spirit and write about American abundance – I’ve been to Europe, and the ice situation is grim – but while I can certainly appreciate the miracle of the Big Gulp, I longed to go deeper.

I hopped over to the Lowcountry Weekly website to see what I’d written in years past, hoping for some inspiration. Or better yet, something I could recycle!

The website was down.

Apparently, our domain name had expired while I wasn’t looking. My late husband/business partner would never have let that happen, but I’m no Jeff Evans – plus, I only recently learned the term “domain name.” I spent hours with my tech guy trying to recover my latest dropped ball.

We finally got the site back up, and I and did a search of my July 4th columns. Read them all. Felt some serious feels. Remembered how I used to be a decent writer. Wondered what happened. (Old age? Widowhood? Some undiagnosed, untreatable brain disease?)

All of the columns were dated, so recycling was out of the question. But clearly, I was in no mood to write a love song to America at 250. Anything I might conjure up would be more like a dirge.

So, I decided to let my Facebook friends write the bulk of my column for me. Feigning good cheer, I posted the following prompt:

“Friends, I’m working on a column and could really use your input! As our 250th Anniversary approaches, how’s your patriotism? How are you feeling about our country and its future? Are you optimistic? Pessimistic? Why do you feel the way you feel? If you have the time and the inclination, please share your thoughts here. Feel free to elaborate!”

The response was spectacular.

The comments were all over the place – positive, negative, confused, conflicted – but one thing was clear: If my FB friends are a representative cross-section – and I believe they are – Americans still love their country.  Some, unabashedly. Some, more reservedly. Some almost despairingly. But even their laments seemed born out of love. Tough love, after all, is still love.

The following is a mere sampling of the bounty that poured forth from my diverse collection of FB friends. I’m not using any names here. If you want those, along with the “full experience,” visit my personal page on Facebook.

###

“The American farmer is still out there feeding and preserving. Our churches are still out there caring for the needy. I pray and fly my American flag every day. I see all the bad, but I am part of the solution.”

“I cried like a baby while singing God Bless America in a football stadium just after 9/11. I’ll never forget that feeling. But if I’m honest… I feel like a lot of folks think any kind of dissent or negativity means you hate it here and don’t really love America.”

“I feel disgust and despair. I fear the experts on autocracy are right and that we have lost too many of the democratic institutions that ensured the ‘American way of life’ and that there’s no going back to that. The next few years are crucial in determining the future. Whether this country will remain a democracy or solidify into a kleptocratic autocracy. So – not feeling any celebration.”

“A shining city on a hill. The last, best hope for mankind. Everybody wants to be here.”

“I am concerned about the rise in support for socialism from the likes of AOC and Mamdani. But especially here, where we hear the sound of freedom flying overhead regularly, I am continuously optimistic.”

“You don’t have to look closely to see the hard-to-bend metal of the moral universe when you walk the streets of Beaufort, boat its waterways, and visit its historic islands. You literally bear Beaufort’s history of slavery, imagine the sea island cotton on fingertips, hear the thunderous shots of the Civil War and the voices of Robert Smalls and Harriet Tubman, applaud the Port Royal Experiment and Penn Center, marvel at Reconstruction, and witness the results of its abandonment as the shame of Jim Crow stubbornly resisted the path toward voting rights and integration. If only more of us could stand on the same side and bend the arc more in the next 250 years, what a union we might perfect.”

w“I am troubled by the comments on Socialism. I am not sure that people understand what Socialism is. It is Government taking responsibility for the wellbeing of the people by such things as old age pensions, workman’s compensation, unemployment aid, Medicare, etc. We are so behind many of the highly educated nations of the world in this regard. Socialism is not Communism. We have allowed the undereducated to run this country and it is not pretty. I will not be celebrating.”

“I have felt especially proud to be an American when I see FIFA cup fans from around the world enjoying the incredible bounty we have here. We must hold on to that, because there is literally no place on earth like the USA.”

“Those of us who are old like me remember 1976. The Bicentennial! It was a year of patriotic fun, a whole year of patriotism. There were all sorts of special events, most of them themed with the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers, 200 years of democracy. We felt part of something special. The Bicentennial was everywhere! Even though it was a presidential election year, I don’t remember politics tainting the celebration… I can’t speak for today’s teenagers, and whether this 250th anniversary feels special, but to me, there is no comparison. It’s as though all the joy has been sucked out of what should be a special year for ALL Americans. I feel no similar joy and see no similar sense of wonder and celebration, and that is a terrible shame.”

“Politics and the 24-hour news conglomerates are brainwashing people into thinking there’s more that divides us than unites us. I believe that trends like this are cyclical and the goodness of people will once again prevail.”

“As a musician and as a retired music teacher, it deeply saddens me that our children don’t know even basic patriotic songs. . .  Our kids (and many adults!) don’t even know our national anthem, much less the history behind it. And, you’ll get blank stares if you mention “America the Beautiful” or “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Heck, they don’t even know “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.” We have absolutely failed at passing on music, and traditions of generations past of our young country.”

“I’m actually optimistic. What we’re seeing feels less like a temporary disruption and more like a broad cultural shift. The last major shift of this scale unfolded during the 1960s and 1970s, when a generation challenged many of the institutions and assumptions of the day. Over time, those former outsiders became the new establishment. History has a way of cycling through these transitions, with each generation eventually giving way to the next.”

“I’m a little sad. Fifty years ago, despite our imperfections, we had common bonds that tied us together as a large family. I remember attending the 200th anniversary celebration in Nashville, at Centennial Park. The orchestra played, we had speeches and other entertainment, and no one questioned celebrating. We were a special country. I fear that sense of common pride has been seriously eroded. However, being an optimist, I keep hoping we will find a way, like a family, to make it work, notwithstanding our differences.”

“I’m actually pretty optimistic. Not because I think our leaders always get it right. They don’t. What gives me hope is that there are still plenty of Americans willing to ask hard questions, challenge the status quo, and hold people accountable. It’s the mom at the school board meeting. The neighbor at city council. The citizen filing a FOIA request. The volunteer giving their time. The person willing to stand up and say, ‘Something about this doesn’t seem right.’ That’s what makes this country special.”