I went to visit my friends in Denmark in a suburb of Copenhagen. I visited in early July and my friends took me downtown on July the 4th. We visited Tivoli and rode some great carnival rides, enjoyed some excellent food and listened to some great music. Later that night I got a great surprise when we went down to a big gathering of folks by the harbor. My friend said something to a few folks that were gathered in the middle of a large group. Suddenly they erupted in smiles and laughter and came over to shake my hand and introduce themselves. Then someone handed me a small Danish flag and a small American flag.
I was still not sure what was going on. Although I did notice that the crowd was getting much larger and many people were carrying American flags. I obviously knew it was July 4th but why did people in Denmark care? My friend explained everything with a very simple and obvious history lesson. Since the States helped defeat the Germans and liberate Denmark in WWII the Danish still celebrate and honor July 4th with a great fireworks show and a show of solidarity. I felt very patriotic and I even choked up a bit when the fireworks above started detonating with the sound of the United States national anthem playing in the background. The Danes were waving their American and Danish flags and I learned quite a bit about the Danish people from this one event. This is a great culture that celebrated the good and didn’t forget the bad. People in the States could learn a lot from this view of life.
I was still not sure what was going on. Although I did notice that the crowd was getting much larger and many people were carrying American flags. I obviously knew it was July 4th but why did people in Denmark care? My friend explained everything with a very simple and obvious history lesson. Since the States helped defeat the Germans and liberate Denmark in WWII the Danish still celebrate and honor July 4th with a great fireworks show and a show of solidarity. I felt very patriotic and I even choked up a bit when the fireworks above started detonating with the sound of the United States national anthem playing in the background. The Danes were waving their American and Danish flags and I learned quite a bit about the Danish people from this one event. This is a great culture that celebrated the good and didn’t forget the bad. People in the States could learn a lot from this view of life.
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