INDEPENDENCE DAY PERSPECTIVE

By Edwin Cooney

Seventeen days have passed since we celebrated the two hundred thirty-second anniversary of our American way of life. You may be surprised, but I’ve decided that the biggest news stories of this year’s Fourth are nearly as revealing about the people of our “Great Republic” as the big news was on this day two hundred thirty-two years ago.

Back in 1776, the big story of the day was that the delegates to the Second Continental Congress had voted for independence from Great Britain. However, the ultimate ramifications of that news story were quite uncertain. This year’s Fourth of July featured not one big story, but two biggies. Certainly, the ramifications of either of these two stories are presently obscure and require “the fullness of time” to show their ultimate significance.

The first news story is about Kent Couch of Bend, Oregon who completed his third historic flight aboard his Balloon-Propelled Lawn Chair while the rest of us feasted on Fourth of July picnic fare. Couch flew well into neighboring Idaho, several hundred miles from his Bend, Oregon home. Surely many wondered why he would want to do something like that.

The surface answer is that Kent Couch has a hero, the late Larry Walters. Walters launched his lawn chair to a height of some sixteen thousand feet over Southern California on July 2nd, 1982, but he had a most unpleasant flight. Walters became cold and frightened. He was spotted by several aircraft pilots who reported him to the Federal Aviation Administration. Using a pellet gun to puncture the helium balloons that held him aloft, Walters landed safely, although his equipment became entangled around power lines causing a power shortage to several hundred thousand Southern California PG&E customers. The whole venture cost Walters fifteen hundred dollars in Federal Aviation Administration fines. Later, Walters said he did it as a gag and would never do it again. Larry Walters, as it turned out, lived a rather lonely existence preferring the vastness of the wilderness to the limelight of notoriety. It was in the wilderness that he committed suicide in 1993.

Fortunately things are much brighter for Kent Couch. Not only does Mr. Couch have the loving support of his wife Susan in his venture, he also has a corporate sponsor to help him perfect lawn chair flight. So, even Capitalist America has gotten into the act. Even more, Kent Couch says he wants to be the first one to fly a lawn chair across the English Channel and later across Australia.

So the question is, what does this say about the values of modern American manhood? Is it as brave and purposeful as it once was? Neither George Washington nor Kent Couch knew how tragically or happily their July Fourth challenges would turn out. These two events do have danger and uncertainty in common, but what else?

The second big news story from our recent Fourth of July celebration concerns Joey Chestnut of San Jose, California. Television and newspaper photos vividly show Chestnut and rival Takeru Kobayashi of Japan stuffing fifty-nine hot dogs into their faces at the annual hot dog eating contest on New York’s Coney Island. Chestnut won in a two-minute overtime when he scarffed down an additional five hot dogs more quickly than Kobayashi.

It’s interesting to note that this contest also has corporate sponsorship. Nathan’s, a restaurant on Coney Island, has been sponsoring the International Hot Dog Eating Contest each Independence Day since Tuesday, July 4th, 1916. In some ways, this July Fourth tradition could be considered more dangerous than Mr. Couch’s obsession. If Kent Couch avoids an accident he certainly won’t do nearly the harm to his physiognomy that Joey Chestnut and his rival Kobayashi appear to be doing to theirs. The twenty-four year-old Chestnut began competing in competitive eating contests in 2005. One has only to Google his name to discover some incredible feats or, if you prefer, feasts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that we’re foolish to be intrigued by Kent Couch’s or Joey Chestnut’s adventures or that we’re less a people than we were two hundred thirty-two years ago. I am suggesting, however, that we’re certainly different. How crucial that difference is may be another formidably daunting question.

Some may suggest that both Couch and Chestnut can be explained as children of the 1960s generation. Remember, however, that Nathan’s began its sponsorship of public gluttony back in 1916 when we were being governed by one of this nation’s most puritanical leaders, that “no nonsense”, self-righteous Presbyterian by the name of Woodrow Wilson. It is no good to blame the “flower generation” for the eccentricities of today’s me me me generation.

Ah! But perhaps there is a clue to those eccentricities. Our nation is a completed and beloved Republic these days, so there’s plenty of time as well as plenty of resources for the aggrandizing of the individual. Two hundred thirty-two Fourths of July ago was a time of national struggle although not all Americans, by any means, were unanimous in wanting to be free of their king. However, a small but resourceful group of Americans banded together and won the right for individuals to shine however foolish or wholesome their purposes may be.

So today, shine is exactly what they do.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY