Editor’s note: Dennis Wyatt is on vacation. This column first ran on July 4, 2007.



Sometime between the first flag unfurling at dawn’s early light on Main Street and the last flickering ember floating back down to earth in the darkened skies over Manteca’s Big League Dreams sports complex you may discover the truth about America.

It’s not hard to find.

You’ll see it in the fresh, eager and wholesome faces of Emma Mathisen and Tyler Ryan as the two Manteca Youth Focus members join a small army of other youth — from Boy Scouts to members of the Bev Marlow clan — as they place part of the 2,400 flags along Manteca streets.

 You’ll hear it in the neighborly banter of die-hard volunteers such as Carole Reed and Dick Prada — as well as other Manteca Kiwanis — as they chat with hundreds of people as they help serve up pancakes, eggs, ham, OJ, coffee, and milk during breakfast. They’re the same who help make the Pumpkin Fair a success, hide thousands of eggs during the free community Easter egg hunt, and gave thousands of dollars to help non-profits that serve youth and those in need.

You’ll see it in the face of Antoinette Poulus that will beam with love as she rides at the lead of the parade next to her husband Ted who is serving as grand marshal. Dignity, intelligence, artistic flair, hard work, grace and devotion are all traits that she exemplifies.

You’ll also see it in the reserved — almost shy — personality of her husband Ted who has given back to the community ten-fold while he worked as a pharmacist as well as after he retired whether it is the Manteca District Ambulance that he helped found, Doctors Hospital board, former service on the Delta College board or a slew of other efforts that would fill this entire page.

You’ll hear it in the voice of  people like Stella Hester who will fill the Manteca Presbyterian Church at North and Main streets at 2 p.m. with patriotic song. It is the same voice that has helped unlock the magic of reading over the years to countless kids who access one of the great treasures of this land — a universal public school system and free public libraries.

America, when all is said and done, can be found not in politicians, celebrities or the super rich. Its heart, soul and backbone are in the construction worker. The secretary. The clerk. The farmer. The truck driver. The school teacher. The soldier. The nurse. The day laborer. The engineer. The farm worker.

Thomas Jefferson may have inspired legions but it took countless others whose hearts beat fast for the same love of liberty and freedom to turn words into deeds.

George Washington may have led through doom and gloom to triumph but it took the faithful commitment of men willing to leave the comfort of their homes and risk it all for the untried idea that common men could rise up against kings and determine their own collective destiny.

Joseph Strauss may have had the vision and the engineering skills to design the Golden Gate Bridge but it took the muscle, sweat, backbone — and even the lives — of laborers to actually create the modern wonder.

 John D. Rockefeller may have set the bar for capitalism but it is the countless small business owners who really make the free-market system work.

Martin Luther King Jr. may have delivered the stirring and inspiring words that remind us equality in terms of human rights must be universal or it exists for none but it is the day-to-day actions of neighbors, co-workers, and strangers that determine whether we are indeed different than mere animals.

America is not perfect. But there are 302 million reasons as we celebrate the 231st anniversary of what still ranks as the most radical moments in the annals of mankind — the signing of the Declaration of Independence — and its lofty concept of putting all men on the same footings as kings that this nation still offers the best hope for oppression and tyranny to fade from the earth.

The truth about America is simple. It works because government for the people and by the people requires people to step up and do their share to make America work.

If not, the freedoms and liberties we enjoy may end up as just as a series of bursts on the timeline of man and fade into oblivion just as the final embers of fireworks will tonight.