South County Celebrates Easter in the Sunshine

By Mitch Traphagen

mitch@observernews.net

RUSKIN - Life is returning to normal. On Easter Sunday in South Hillsborough County hundreds of residents turned out for the annual sunrise service on Bahia Beach. Meanwhile children around the area looked for Easter eggs and family and friends gathered for meals and time together.

Despite terrorist attacks, wars in two countries and economic woes, south county residents paused to celebrate Easter in ways they have done for years.

Easter of 2003 was celebrated without a looming crisis. It was not the first Easter after Sept. 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq is winding down. For this time, for the Easter season, relative quiet has assumed a position in America.

Although families around the world are mourning loved ones lost in the conflict, and in all of the recent conflicts, the 24 hour a day news footage of Iraqi battlefields are already taking their place as historical records. The troops aren't home yet but clearly the threat to their well-being has been reduced.

As south county grows, some things remain the same - it is retaining a small town atmosphere with traditions and well-attended family oriented events. Sunrise services, a party for children at a state park and the upcoming Tomato Festival are just a few of those events. The sun is shining, people are out enjoying themselves, the pressure has been reduced.

Around the world, however, global events often took center stage alongside the message of Easter.

In Britain, religious leaders focused on the aftermath of the war with Iraq, calling on the coalition allies to apply the same resolve used to oust Saddam Hussein to rebuild the lives of the Iraqi people.

In Iraq, the nearly one million Christians celebrated a somber holiday in the wake of the war. According to the Washington Post, many Iraqi Christians were sorry to see him go. In what was described as buying acquiescence, the Hussein government was fairly generous with churches often providing construction funds, free water and electricity and even free organs.

Today Iraqi Christians are concerned about their future in the Muslim country and about what a new government will bring.

The tone in South Hillsborough County, however, was decidedly different. While it is likely that the war was mentioned in every area Easter service, most themes instead revolved on the basic message of Easter, one of the most important of Christian holidays.

The phrase 'God Bless America' is not exclusively Christian. For Americans it is a Judeo-Christian-Islamic expression as people of virtually all faiths have uttered that expression.

And while the Easter services in this area tended to focus on Easter itself, the often unspoken message was that God has blessed America. In hearing the laughter of children, in seeing smiling faces under bright blue skies, it seems God has blessed South Hillsborough County as well.