I used to be one of the most Patriotic Americans you could ever meet. I spent countless Fourth of July's watching the Boston Pops on T.V., choked up and teary-eyed through so much of the program's spirited music, not being able to choke back some of that welling emotion during our National Anthem. Every year I would say that NEXT Fourth, I would go see the Pops in person!
Flip the channel and I would be proudly cry-singing my way through "I'm Proud To Be An American" with someone like Billy Rae Cyrus, it's true. I remember practically feeling every American soldier's sacrafice under my feet when I got to the part about proudly standing up next to you. This is embarrassing to admit but this kind of fun sometimes kept me from getting out much on those holidays, but I liked it. I felt so grateful for something I believed and it felt so good inside. So did the guacamole!
I am uneasy about Patriotism these days. I believe in Love, Liberty, Truth and Honor. I believe in MLK's Dream, the Pursuit of Happiness. I believe in Freedom and supporting each other. What is happening? Our country is suddenly full of competitive opportunists and kids learning how to bully in school like professional assassins by mimicking the behaviors of their competitive parents who bully at work...and win!
We encourage our kids to take advantage of their friends by showing them how! We praise cruelty when combined with money and wit. Is this American? I don't identify with what I am`seeing and though some religions have no problem with it, I know that God doesn't identify with it, either...no matter whose God you're fighting over.
Our country, our world is becoming desensitized.
Is childhood bullying really an issue? If our country is going this way, maybe we should be offering Socio-Bullying as a high school elective so that students who come from families that DON"T set this example can fare more competitively when entering cutthroat College and the job meat market one day. Come to think of it, maybe we should start with Pre-Schoolers by designing new playgrounds like mini Colliseums!
Many adults who lecture about teamwork and behaving as a whole community are robbing their neighbors under the guise of professional 'shrewdness' and setting this example for their kids. Then going off to volunteer...to 'help'? These same folks also feel some authority to ask questions like, "What would Jesus Do?"! Ha!
It's become more impressive and remarkable these days to witness someone being truthful than it is to witness someone telling a lie... C.Y.A., anyone? Need a lawyer? No worries, we've got plenty. Everyone loves and hates a lawyer, you almost have to.
But wait. Who have we become?
As the world becomes uniform, we settle. The more we globalize through big business, the more we Third World the First World common man instead of First Worlding the Third World common man. It's not right and you can feel it in the air like a straight jacket.
How do you feel Patriotism towards something like Big Business? Do you dig for that in your soul or in your tax return? Do we just stop feeling? Am I just slow to desensitize?
I want the freedom that comes with life. It's a natural desire and it's a natural right.
No comments:
Post a Comment