A day of detente, devoid of campaigning, wrangling, digging, slinging, debating or protesting.

Twenty-four hours without analyzing President George W. Bush’s foreign policy or critiquing documentarian Michael Moore’s homework in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Maybe, just maybe, we could slap duct tape over our labels as Republicans and Democrats, hawks and doves, disciples and dissenters, and simply be Americans.

Tradition – from the mountains to the prairies and the oceans white with foam – dictates otherwise, of course. We celebrate freedom by exercising it through copious speech.

And that’s OK. You might say it’s our birthright. Public opinion is one of the checks and balances that keep our country brutally honest, forthright and great.

So live, love and employ those liberties. But not today.

Let’s shelve personal convictions about war in Iraq, accept the reality that we’re there and pause to consider its effect on our community.

A husband about to leave

Think about a person whose life is consumed by it. I’ll think of Gretchen Dunn, a Mechanic Falls native living in Fort Lewis, Wash.

Dunn e-mailed our newsroom two weeks ago. That day, the Sun Journal told the story of Bruce Morris, a member of the Maine Army National Guard who was reunited with his wife, Alicia, and daughter in Poland after a 13-month tour in Iraq.

“I know there are other families out there with more than one child at war,” Gretchen Dunn wrote.

She knows because hers is one.

Out there on the West Coast, Gretchen’s husband, James Dunn, chief warrant officer with the Army’s Stryker Brigade Combat Team, prepares for deployment to Iraq by the end of summer.

And James is Alicia Morris’ brother.

Like Alicia, Gretchen also is Mom to a 10-year-old, a boy named Matthew. His grandparents, aunts and uncles live in Maine.

“We will not have our immediate family within reach to help us,” his mother added.

Think about that today when you’re arguing over the family volleyball game.

Peaceful possibilities

Participation in patriotic holidays rivals the pathetic voter turnout in November. How many of us skip the Memorial Day parade in our hometown? How few drop what they’re doing on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and pay homage?

An awwww-inspiring number of Americans acknowledge those occasions by sacrificing an extra slab of red meat to the charcoal briquettes or grabbing another brew.

Too many national holidays are celebrated as little more than an extra day off from work. Well, today’s Sunday, pal, so you may not be getting a freebie, anyway.

With that in mind, some possibilities:

Knock on a door and thank the serviceman or servicewoman who just returned safely to his home down the street.

Prepare a meal for the spouse and children of a brave soul who’s celebrating our nation’s birthday in the desert.

Or get really crazy. Don’t use war and turmoil as convenient excuses to doubt the existence of a higher power and pray like a mad fool.

Pray for peace.

Pray for parents such as Phil and Mona Dunn in Poland. Or Dona Field of Lisbon, who laid her son, Beau Beaulieu, to rest last month and has another son, Brandon, in Army basic training.

Pray that lives will be spared, broken hearts comforted.

And nuttier still, if you’re unable or unwilling to participate in any of those rituals, celebrate the Fourth by saying nothing. Bite a hole in your tongue if you have to.

Ponder aloud the merits of war tomorrow. Or wait until Tuesday, if you can contain yourself.

Till then, let the noise be contained to laughter and fireworks.

Could we?

Kalle Oakes is staff columnist. He may be reached by e-mail at koakes@sunjournal.com.

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