This Patriots' Day, feeling the red, white, and blues

Today is Patriots' Day, a holiday that I have always loved.

This year should have been a big one, especially in these parts. It's Bisesquicentennial! The 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride (April 18th). The 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19th). And the day when the holiday is observed here in Massachusetts - third Monday in April - when the flags and tricorn hats come out, the Boston Marathon is run, and the Sox are home for an early start (11 a.m.) game.

I've never been a big flag waver, but this year I'm feeling a definite deficit of patriotism - at least of the fervid, jingoistic, blinders-on variety that for a good long time has defined the term. But if the definition of patriotism can accommodate someone who appreciates the country for its good, wants to acknowledge the not-so-good (and the out-and-out bad), and tries to make things better by voting for good candidates, donating to good causes (increasingly of the pro-democracy kind), and showing up for demonstrations to demonstrate to the powers that regrettably be (as if they give damn) that not everyone in America welcomes the slide into autocracy/kleptocracy.

Sigh.

So if I'm feeling anything today, it's the red, white, and blues.

I'll put in a couple of hours for my regular shift in the Resource Center at St. Francis House, and then head out to Fenway for the game. (This is weather dependent, of course, Patriots' Day seems to ping-pong back and forth between absolutely rotten and absolutely spectacular. As I'm writing this in advance, the weather remains a big unknown.)

I will have deliberately ignored the happenings in the North End (one if by land, two if by sea). In Lexington. In Concord. Especially if the nightmare that currently occupies the Oval Office has the bad taste to "grace" Massachusetts with his malign presence, thereby ruining the celebrations for a lot of people - which would of course be his point. (In 2024, Lexington 2024: Harris 77%, Trump 18%; Concord: Harris 80%, Trump 16%; the North End of Boston split would have been closer, but I didn't want to spend all that time trying to figure out what precincts are where; the overall Boston split was Harris 76%, Trump 22%.)

I won't be around for the Tricentennial, of course - if there is one. 

I don't have the heart to wish anyone a Happy Patriots' Day. As I see it, the good has mostly outweighed the bad, but whether that can hold, well...

But the best I can muster up is good luck. And God, if there is a God, save our country.