Day 6

Today is Finland’s Independence Day! It’s been over 100 years, and let’s hope it stays that way. There are many good things here, and I’m lucky to have been born in this country. Some things aren’t functional, but there are more positive than negative things. One is that you can see wild animals in nature and cities. Besides birds, you can see hedgehogs, foxes and white-tale deer. I’ve seen all of them and a fox several times. Once, a fox walked past me on the street.

I first saw a moose when I was a small child. I was probably 3 or 4 years old. We had a summer place then, and I was in a tub with water in the yard. Suddenly, I started screaming, and my parents wondered what was going on. A little further away, a moose with a big horn walked past. For a kid, it’s a scary thing. The moose was only walking by, so there was no danger. When the forest is near, you can see such things. Dad was filming the whole thing on Cine film at the time without sound, which is why I remember it and what my parents told me. I haven’t seen a moose after that. There aren’t many of them around where I live. There are more white-tail deer around, and I’ve seen many of them.

On Independence Day, I will light two candles, and that’s as far as my celebrations go. I don’t care about some ball from the president’s castle shown on TV yearly. It’s too dull for my taste. I prefer doing something else. It’s all about what the invited guests are wearing. They could dress in a plastic bag, but I still wouldn’t care. I can appreciate Finland’s independence in some other way. I’m not less of Finn if I don’t watch some ball. After all, it’s a free country, and we’re allowed to celebrate our way. That’s what independence means to me.