Celebrating the Rebellion against the Crown

Barry Brett celebrating the rebellion against the crown at the Amazon Golf Course on July 4th, 2009.

Well I was born in England, went to school and college there. Worked my first few jobs there, but always inside I was American! While other children happily read Beano and Dandy comics I was hooked on Mickey Mouse weekly. Those Disney cartoons were everything to me. As I grew-up I slicked back my hair, put on my blue jeans (American Levis) and slid into my Blue Suede Shoes. Yes I was in love with Elvis and American Rock & Roll. So it should come as no surprise that having travelled much of the world by age twenty two I found myself finally in the U.S., sitting on the Florida sand at Coco Beach together with some two million Americans watching the launch to the Moon. I never really left! I’ve lived in the U.S. more than forty years and now I find myself completely Americanized with just a slight trace of that perfect English accent I once had.
   
I think of myself as American, my son was born in California and my wife was Californian. So there I was at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos, Peru. Celebrating the Rebellion Against the Crown. It had been raining heavily for quite sometime. (After all it is the rainforest!). When we arrived Bill Curtis was playing flute upstairs entertaining Bill Grimes and other Americans. I wanted to ask Bill if he could play Yankee Doodle Dandy but then I realized I’d forgotten the words. I could have sung God Save the Queen. I still remember those words but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate! Did it ever seem appropriate? Waltzing Matilda sounds even more bizarre. Who was Matilda anyway? I’ve got my own ideas on that one but I wouldn’t want to offend my Aussie friends! But God save the Queen. What was she doing that was so bad that she had to be saved?

Bill Curtis playing the flute for the July 4th celebration at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse.

I settled for hot dogs and the Star Spangled Banner. The hot dogs (Brazilian Sausage) together with Beans and Potato Salad were excellent as was all the American cuisine. I chugged-down a couple of Inka Colas and the beer drinkers stuck to their favorites, Pilsen or Iquiteña. It was quite a treat after so many months of fake American food in Arie’s Burger and the other boulevard restaurants. Surrounded by Red, White and Blue balloons, it felt like America even though we were thousands of miles from home.

There was plenty of good music, dancing and golfing in the rain for those so inclined. Dancing is not permitted on the golf course unless totally drunk! Then there’s an additional fee to remove all the empty six-packs or was it beer kegs? It was a mixed bunch.

Celebrating July 4th at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse.

There were other Brits celebrating the loss of the Colony; that kick in-the-teeth, chop-off the hand that fed you (and TAXED YOU). Or maybe it was just an excuse to chug-down some more beer. After all there are plenty of Americans who see the Fourth as an excuse to party-down. As for me the Fourth represents much more than that.

Yes, THE FOURTH. Notice that Americans never describe it as the Fourth of July. To us it’s THE FOURTH. It represents a sea-change in political thought. Those TRAITORS, (Oh, I mean THOSE HEROES) who risked a public hanging to give the world a new concept of governance. The notion that the rights of man are god-given and not the property of Kings and Queens, Emperors and Despots. Rights that are god-given and cannot be abridged or taken away without the express consent of the governed. I was celebrating the founding documents, the Constitution, Declaration and the Bill of Rights. The world has never been the same since. There was a time once, when I was a child walking through the ruble of my totally destroyed hometown when the Stars and Stripes meant everything to everyone. Americans were heroes and welcomed as liberators. Oh gosh, the American flag, the Stars and Stripes. Have I been color-blind all these years. Is it, yes it is. RED, WHITE and BLUE. NO it can’t be. But surely it is. Aren’t they the same colors from the British flag, the Union Jack? No they wouldn’t would they? I mean that’s trans-atlantic thievery. Steal the colors after kicking the Brits in the teeth?  OH YES THEY WOULD!

Celebrating The Rebellion Against The Crown

Barry Brett

Tagged as: Amazon Golf Course, amazon golf course clubhouse, fourth of july, Iquitos Peru