The July 4 weekend is on us.

For the second time this year, all us working stiffs are getting the gift of a second three-day weekend to relax, spend time with our families, go on an outing or breakout the boat and the gear and go fishing or water skiing. Or maybe just sleep late and veg out in the recliner or on the sofa.

There are many ways to celebrate the “official” birthday of our country’s independence from Great Britain.

My routine will be the same it’s been for the past few years. I’ll sleep late, spend time with my wife and daughter and watch “Gettysburg” and John Wayne’s “The Horse Soldiers,” which, if I’m not mistaken, is based on the story of Grierson’s Raid, a cavalry raid by Union Col. Benjamin H. Grierson and 1,700 Union troopers, which cut through Mississippi destroying railroad equipment about the time of the Siege of Vicksburg.

I’ve always played movies to remember certain events, like “The Longest Day” or selections from “Band of Brothers” to remember D-Day, or “Bull Durham” with Kevin Costner and “Pride of the Yankees” with Gary Cooper to herald the start of baseball season. One year, I played “The Train,” a movie about Syracuse great and Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis to mark the start of football season.

Since I’m not one to go in for fireworks or massive celebrations for the holidays, the movies suffice, and are a different way of celebrating the holiday. I also enjoy watching the July 4 concerts on PBS, which allow me to be entertained in the cool of my own home while being serenaded by fireworks from the neighboring subdivisions.

And I will also have to work one day during the holiday period. Like many other occupations, working a holiday is not unusual for people in the news business. The news, like crime and emergencies, doesn’t take time off. I’ve worked many a July 4, many a Memorial Day, New Year’s, Christmas, Easter and Labor Day covering the good and the bad. In some ways, reporters have something in common with police and firefighters. When a major emergency strikes, we’re there — reporters, because the public wants to know what’s going on; police and firefighters because they took an oath to protect and defend. And that’s what makes first responders’ jobs probably more important than many of the others who work on holidays.

They’re the ones who are always out there protecting and helping others, and it’s a thankless job. For the most part, they’re forgotten or maligned until their needed.

So this weekend, especially Monday, while you’re out doing whatever you do on the holiday, whether it’s a picnic or watching fireworks Monday night, if you seen a police officer, sheriff’s deputy, firefighter or paramedic of EMT, give them a wave or tell them “hello,” their vigilance is the reason you can enjoy the holiday safely.

John Surratt is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. Reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com.