I often go places and act as an alien observer. Mainly just because I'm not there with anyone and I might as well observe the people. See if I can learn anything.
That was the case yesterday morning when I got wrangled into taking my daughter and her boyfriend to a Fourth of July parade (not an Independence Day parade) in a nearby town; a town that an ancient relative used to call "Jenny Slipper". Most people call it Muleshoe.
There was no independence on display, but a whole lot of state worship. And cops making sure no one showed any independence. But, that's a separate topic.
Well, the cowboy doing rope tricks as he rode a flatbed down the street was possibly the most independent of them all. I don't remember if his flatbed was festooned with government symbology. If not, it was probably the exception.
As soon as the parade was over I got abandoned while the teens ran off to do their thing-- they wished to visit the vendors. I followed the crowd (yes, I am capable of doing that) to the courthouse, and picked a shady spot under one of the Siberian elms. These are inferior trees that got planted all over this region a century or so ago and sold to the residents as the superior Chinese elm. Oh well, it gave shade.
Chairs were set up by groups all around me, so I got to hear a lot of interesting and amusing conversations and stories-- one about how someone's cluelessness embarrassed her and inconvenienced a couple of groups of golfers. At least she found it funny now.
Another guy was telling all about his fitness routine, and how he wanted to increase his fitness so he would be capable in whatever circumstances arise. A worthy goal.
One woman was telling her friends about a man who had done her wrong. It didn't take too long listening to her before I completely empathized with the man.
Nearly everyone was eating food from the vendors. Some people were showing off their dogs. People were milling about and chatting.
One thing I didn't hear was any political talk. No one discussed presidents or congressvermin or Supreme Courtjesters. No one talked about elections within my hearing. I didn't hear a single person mention government in any way, even though we were sitting on "government property" [sic] in front of an imposing government building. So, even if the parade didn't celebrate independence, the people at least lived it a little bit.