{"id":3031,"date":"2019-07-04T17:36:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T17:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/?p=3031"},"modified":"2019-07-21T17:39:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T17:39:33","slug":"pride-of-independence-or-independence-from-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/04\/pride-of-independence-or-independence-from-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride of independence or independence from pride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I heard a few rumbles in the skies last night and ran out\nwith the camera. Ended up standing there for about an hour, trying desperately\nto get a decent shot or two worth sharing. I have attached the best that I got\nto this email and was so proud to see how it turned out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pride though is a really hollow feeling and it didn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t take\nlong to realize the pride for this type of shot purely belongs to mother\nnature. My part in the capture was randomly shooting into a dark sky and\nrepeatedly pushing a shutter button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the pride evaporated, I began to widen my thought\nprocess into how later this evening much of America will show their\nindependence pride in fireworks displays all across the country. From parents\non their driveways, to community displays, even to the over-zealous display in\nthe nation\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s capitol, fireworks will light the skies within just a short few\nhours. It is an interesting tradition and apart from some unfortunate injuries\nthat seem to happen every year, it brings happiness and wonder into the minds\nof children (young and old).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piece that bothered me though was the fundamental role\nof pride that has overtaken the celebration itself, as neighbors try to outdo\nneighbors, cities try to outdo towns, and presidents try to exalt their own\negos. When it is all over, kids will have memories, some of us will have\nphotographs, and others will have bragging rights.  Making independence\ngreat again though is a fools errand. Charging at ostentatiously lit windmills\nin the sky because your dreams of military parades haven\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t happened seems\nQuixotesque at best. (I might have just made up that word, by the way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen enough Planet Earth episodes to know that pride\nis not the sole domain of humans. Many species exhibit this characteristic and\nyet when we see over-the-top displays in animals we generally are entertained\nand often laugh at its foolishness. For it is a laughable characteristic that\nat the end of the day means absolutely nothing. It is a transient feeling of\nutmost shallowness that can be instantly extinguished by sadness or tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the wonderful and true feelings that being a part of\nthe natural world can give a person is the feeling of humility. There are few\nfeelings as meaningful and as life-shaping and yet the pressures of this\nmaterialistic world keeps pushing mankind away from it. To stand in a dark park\nand gaze at the night sky while mother nature lights it up is gratifying on a\nlevel that only true humility can understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything about this wonderful planet serves to remind an\nopen mind that this planet is greater than all of us and how lucky we are to\nlive on her. Pride enables her destruction, while humility can take us back\nfrom the brink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a thoughtful weekend and I hope the planet speaks to\nyou and your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I heard a few rumbles in the skies last night and ran out with the camera. Ended up standing there for about an hour, trying desperately to get a decent shot or two worth sharing. I have attached the best that I got to this email and was so proud to see how it turned … Continue reading “Pride of independence or independence from pride”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3051,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031\/revisions\/3051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}