I was photographing at the Albany Memorial Park July 4th Celebration, which was largely an event for families. This meant a lot of things like watermelon eating contests (see previous photo post), sack races, baby races, pet competitions, etc. While these were great for getting pictures of kids being cute, it wasn’t helpful in saying “Independence Day,” visually.

And then, things to a turn for the awesome. Without warning, a group of teenagers walked down the street next to the park carrying an American flag and chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” They were 17-18, meaning they were 6-8 when September 11th happened. I was 12.

Irony-laced, jingoistic flag waving and chanting is often “tsk-tsk”ed by those seeking to find meaning in the death of Osama Bin Laden, after 9 years of warfare with little tangible results. But from most reports, those celebrating were my age or younger. Who were they condemning? I think the vast majority of those out on the streets celebrating are young people in search of an outlet, or at least seeking to express a general feeling of happiness.

This is admittedly a generalization layered upon a generalization, but I don’t think young people today have the same immature worldview of American exceptionalism that the previous generation has. We’ve grown up knowing about the inferiority of our education and health care system. We’ve grown up knowing that our college educations have been paid for by government bonds sold to the Chinese.

So I didn’t cringe too much when these young guys walked past, extolling the virtues of being an American. Considering who the people are who are making the big decisions, I’ll save my cringing for the older generation.