250 Years

As our country’s 250th anniversary approaches, my mind keeps going back to our 200th anniversary in 1976. What would the current Max say to the 21 year old West Point Cadet who was in DC for July 4th that year?  As Bob Dylan sang, “I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.”

 I’ve been thinking about that evening in 1976 as Independence Day approaches this year. The country went through rough stuff in the ‘60s and early ‘70s leading up to our 200th birthday. Vietnam, anti war protests, the King and Kennedy assasinations, Kent State, Nixon and Watergate, race issues, the assassination attempts on Ford, and multiple drug overdoses, including Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison, to name just a few of the issues of the day. We definitely weren’t all singing Kumbaya together. 

 But I also remember the magic I felt on the actual 4th of July itself. It was a night that could only happen in America. Grilled steaks at Cathy’s; getting stuck in traffic going to DC, and ultimately, just pulling over and watching the fireworks from the median of the 14th Street Bridge – the perfect seats; and finally stopping at a bar in Old Town Alexandria on the way home and singing Arlo Guthrie’s “The City of New Orleans” at the top of our lungs with 80 new friends. You remember the chorus, right?

“Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, don’t you know me? I’m your native son
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done …”

There are echoes of that timeframe as I think about this year’s 250th anniversary. We are certainly less united now and I sometimes wonder if we can bridge our differences anymore. We have increasing race issues. Hatred grows and becomes standardized. Voting rights are under attack. We have a president who seems more intent on dividing us, rather than uniting us. I know we have gone through similar periods in our nation’s history, but online media accelerates and exacerbates the situation. I try and think what the future might hold for our country, and the answer is both unclear and troubling.

As this July 4th approaches, I found myself sitting down and writing a letter to that young cadet on the bridge. Not to give him answers, but to try and seek clarity.

Hey Cadet Hall!

I am writing to you from a place that, back in 1976, felt like a lifetime away. I can still see you, standing on the median of the 14th Street Bridge as dusk turns to dark. You’re young, you’re in love, and you’re convinced you just snagged the best seats in the house.

I know you are worried about the traffic home. More importantly, you are worried about the state of the country, hearing the echoes of Vietnam and Watergate even while you try to lose yourself in the Bicentennial celebration. You look at the American flag and wonder if it still represents the same thing to everyone standing on that bridge with you.

I want to tell you something from the other side of fifty years: More than the fireworks themselves, you were right to hold onto the memory of that moment later in the bar, with everyone singing “Good Morning America” along with Arlo Guthrie. 

When you climbed those stairs in Old Town Alexandria and heard that chorus—when you realized that, for a few minutes, eighty strangers were singing the same lyrics with the same out of key, loud, enthusiastic abandon—you stumbled upon a secret I have spent the rest of my life trying to hold onto.

You worried the country is fragile. It was and is. You worried hatred would grow. It has. You worried the world is getting greedier. It is.  As time passes, you will see the world speed up, and the voices get louder and more discordant. 

You will live to see a president who tries to strike down many of the things you believe in about America. There are days now when it feels like the ‘The City of New Orleans’ isn’t just a song, but a metaphor for a country that has lost its way.

But here is what I need you to know: The joy you felt that night was not a fleeting byproduct of the Bicentennial. It reflected something permanent, although often hidden. 

I have learned that unity in this country is rarely a loud, planned national event. It isn’t usually the roar of a crowd, or a massive display of fireworks over a monument, or a flyover at a sporting event. It is certainly not a hyped UFC fight on the White House lawn.

Often, it is much quieter. 

It is the way people show up for each other in the aftermath of a storm like we recently had here in Virginia, or how they still put down their differences to help a neighbor. 

It is the way people band together in big cities and small towns across America and say, “Enough, I’m not taking this anymore.”

Patriotism can sometimes be hard to identify, and it might look different than what you expected, but the spirit that made those eighty people stand up and sing is still present in the American soul. Patriotism isn’t just saying the Pledge of Allegiance or wearing the uniform of our country. It takes on many forms, including protests and marching in the street. It includes demanding better for our country and pushing back against our own government when it oversteps.

You are learning a lot about honor right now at West Point. Hold onto it. I have continually reaffirmed that honor matters. Always. It is worth remembering honor is a quiet, internal compass rather than a loud, political slogan. At the end of each and every day, when I go to sleep, the issues running through my brain are never about truth or honor—and because of that, I sleep well.

And it is the perseverance I have tried to write about in my own life—the quiet, daily choice to start fresh, to forgive, and to keep moving forward despite the noise. To work to make a better America, even though I sometimes question whether the effort is worth it. 

It is worth it. 

If I could look across the fifty years separating us and whisper one thing in your ear as the sky lights up over the Potomac, it would be this: Trust. Trust the quiet things. Trust honor. Trust the perseverance of ordinary people. Trust your friends, who are in the struggle with you. Trust in your ability to make a difference in the fate of this great country of ours. 

So don’t worry too much about the traffic driving home tonight Max, you will make it. Enjoy the camaraderie at the bar and sing until your throat is raw. 

The road ahead is long, and our country is going to break your heart more than once, but that spirit we found in the bar while singing? It survives.

We are a messy, loud, discordant family, but many of us are still singing and asking, “Good morning, America, how are you?” We are still here, we are still listening and still waiting for the answer. I promise, as long as we are still singing, there is a way forward.

Your future self,

The older, younger max

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Addendum:

• As always, thanks to my friend Colleen for editing support, as well as my wife Cathy. I also used Google Gemini for some editing suggestions.
• While Arlo Guthrie popularized “The City of New Orleans” and made it a massive hit, it was written by the brilliant Steve Goodman. Johnny Cash sang a later version that also became famous.
• Here’s A YouTube of Arlo singing “The City of New Orleans”: https://youtu.be/qSeqrkRT1t0?is=eNscB7pkj-Ylbk5v

I have written three other blogs  about July 4th. You will see similar themes in all of them.

• You can read about the 1976 4th of July Cathy and I shared here: It was dusk turning to dark on July 4th, 1976 and Washington DC’s Bicentennial fireworks would start at any moment. Cathy and I were stuck in traffic on the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac. It looked like we weren’t going […] Continue here: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/good-morning-america-how-are-you/
• From 2024: Is July 4th, our Independence Day, a holiday we all still celebrate together as Americans? Or is it now just a fairy tale with fireworks as entertainment for the young, and no longer any unifying meaning?  Some days, I’m not sure I want to know the answer […] Continue here: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/01/july-4th-a-fairy-tale/
• From 2025: Happy 4th of July! May we all celebrate the birth of America 249 years ago. Cookouts, fireworks, maybe a parade. Enjoy the day and give thanks for the Declaration of Independence and those who pledged their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor […] Continue here: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/independence-day-2025/