talkin' 'bout Our Generation
Episode 27. Independence Day 2025
Our Independence Day episode is one of our most popular on OURGENPOD. If you haven’t listened to it before, this Fourth of July holiday is the perfect time to hear a slightly tongue in cheek recitation of “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” from our Founding Father, George Washington.
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It's a little hard to say "Happy" Fourth of July this year. Many of us are not in a celebratory mood. Never since the early 1770's have we faced such a massive and dangerous threat to our very existence as a Constitutional Democracy.
This episode is particularly relevant today, when our country is in chaos and many of our values are vanishing. As dire as that is, there is hope, demonstrated in peaceful protests marked by civility, community, kindness, But there is no hiding from the hard truth: we are definitely not the country represented by our shining symbol, the Statue of Liberty. Since 1886, she has stood at our nation’s door, with the welcoming words by the poet Emma Lazarus at her base:
“Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Tragically, those hallowed words are diametrically opposed to the what's happening today. The lessons Washington learned from painstakingly writing out his Rules -- lessons we have forgotten -- illustrate how civility and decency have declined over the centuries. Much of our behavior today would have been considered shocking in his time, but many are still relevant today. There are many lessons here that our leaders might do well to learn.
We can't help but wonder what Washington would have thought of our current Administration. We like to think he would be proud of the way "We The People" are rising up in protest.
Recently, we attended one of the “No Kings” protests in our neighborhood. We were awed by the thousands of people who poured into the intersection, chanting, carrying signs, waving American flags. The mood was almost joyous. What was so amazing about it was the CIVILITY, the courtesy, the kindness of that crowd. The protest was peaceful, organized … volunteers picked up litter, monitored the crosswalks, and gave out water. There was zero violence. Perfect strangers chatted like old friends.
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These are the very qualities that define the mission of OURGENPOD.
These are the precise values underlying the Mission of OURGENPOD
Over 5 million people participated in the "No Kings" protests in more than 2,100 cities and towns across the United States.
We injected a tongue-in-cheek tone to the text, intended to give us all a little comic relief in these dark days. Historians were horrified that mice had gotten into the
original hand-written manuscript and chewed up chunks of Young Washington's priceless script.
We see that as an apt metaphor for the erosion of civility and decency over the decades. So we filled those gaps with the squeaks and nibbling of those naughty mice.
The text quoted in this episode is taken verbatim from the first published version of Washington's manuscript in 1888 by J M Toner MD, and accompanied by a medley of the music Washington might have enjoyed. And some mice he wouldn't.
Links to the music from Washington's time, as well as a video from the Mount Vernon Museum, and a fascinating piece showing Washington age from a youth to the older man on the dollar bill, are included in Washington's story. There is also a Blog Piece by our Host Julian G. Simmons, confronting the controversy over Washington as a slave owner.
A Very Personal Appeal
With each episode, we have asked in earnest for your support in order to keep this podcast going. Now our situation has become dire. We are constantly trying to attract sponsors and patrons, but we need to have a bigger audience and a regular schedule to even be taken seriously. If we can't count on our friends to chip in and donate, OURGENPOD WILL CEASE TO BE. This could very well be our last episode, because we simply cannot afford to pay the costs of creating the podcast, website, and just the basic cost of living. This is all extremely stressful and exhausting -- we are just two Seniors doing the work of ten Millennials. ​
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But we know we're doing important work: winning the 2024 Discover Pods Award as Best Podcast in the Society and Culture Category is a great validation.
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This matters to us, because OURGENPOD is our purpose, and we have so much more we want to do.
No doubt you have noticed that our episodes are few and far between. This is because we spend all our time struggling to survive financially, which has forced this podcast onto the back burner, And anyone who does creative work -- writing, designing, editing, interviewing -- you understand when stress levels are maxed out, it is virtually impossible to focus on work.
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So PLEASE, help us with a donation. We know you are hit with a daily deluge of pleading politicians, and we know that battle is critical, too. But this is personal, and very real. We simply cannot survive without your help.
Thank you
