I like a good circus.

Truth be told… I have never been to a “live” circus.  Never.

I have seen Cirque de Soleil about 5 times, at least.  Yet… the good old fashioned, three-ringed, lions-on-stools, and daring young men on the flying trapeze…. nadda.

I always equate the circus with one of two troupes.

Ringling Brothers, and Barnum & Bailey.  They are one in the same… since 1907.

But the whole deal got its earliest start with a man named Phineas Taylor Barnum.  Coincidently, he was born on July 5th… today’s date.  But way back in the year 1810.

Phineas was a REAL trip, I’ll tell you.  What a character.  He was born in Connecticut and started out, respectably enough.  He founded a weekly newspaper up in those parts. Yet… something was missing.  So he packed up and moved to the Big Apple.

He embarked on his quest for fine entertainment.  The first venture…. was with a variety troupe called “Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater.”  Around 1834, or so.

He came up with a whole bunch of hoaxes and human curiosities such as the ‘”Feejee” mermaid’ and “General Tom Thumb.”

That old P.T. was always thinking…..   His museum added America’s first aquarium and expanded the wax figure department.  Who thinks like that, really?

The circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame.

Yes… that goofy Phineas.  He came up with  “P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome.”   This thing was not only a traveling circus… it was also a  menagerie and museum of “freaks.”  It was called many different names over the years.

Now here is the funny thing… he came up with all these hoaxes and ways to trick people… in order to make a buck.  Like sewing the head of a monkey on a fish body and calling it the FeeJee Mermaid.

During all of this…. Barnum served two terms in the Connecticut legislature in 1865 as a Republican for Fairfield.   And… still later…. as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut  in the 1870s……  Circus Man / Elected Official.

Can you see the parallel here to modern politics?

Okay…. remember that part earlier…. when I said I’d never seen the circus.

On second thought… maybe I have.

Barnum died in his sleep at home on April 7, 1891 and was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut, a cemetery he designed.

You know.  In the first Spiderman Movie, the one with geek-boy Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst…. there is a great line.

Uncle Ben says it to Peter Parker.

“With Power comes great Responsibility.”  I have quoted it here before.  It is so dang true.

With power comes great responsibility.

Here we are, on the 4th of July.  We celebrate freedom today. Freedom, and Independence are quite powerful indeed.  The United States of America.  Land of the Brave.  Home of the Free.  I wish the next line rang out….

“These are powerful gifts.  Act responsibly.”

I don’t think a lot of Americans really, really, understand freedom.  It gets lost in translation.  It morphs into this “sense of entitlement.”

We are not “entitled” to anything in this life.  Not really.  Any thing can be snatched away at any given moment.

And Rights…  Rights are to be cherished…I think.  And nurtured.  Again, just because we have a “Right”…. doesn’t really mean we can do as we damn well please.

The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property.

Yet.  We must have respect and consideration for others.  What I consider my “right”… may be an infringement of  yours.  Hence.  It requires great balance and communication.

If we want it to work.  That is.

So, on this day, we celebrate our Freedom.   Let’s take good care of it.  Share it well.  Live, and let live.  Perhaps it would be good for us be a shining light, an example for others to follow.

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln