Every year on this day, I want to
write something perfect, that perhaps will neatly encapsulate my own feelings
of patriotism towards this country, although my version is perhaps considerably
different than those that most people here subscribe to. It is not easy,
because so many people have only really been exposed to the one, almost
officially sanctioned version of patriotism, that it is almost unimaginable to
them that there might be any other kind of patriotism out there.
So, let me now say where my own
appreciation of America
comes in. I am proud on many levels of America ,
as well as France .
Yes, I am a dual citizen, and find no shame in that, or in either nationality.
I could go on about some of the great aspects of each country and it's history
(as well as some major criticism), but this is not exactly a college thesis.
That might be a project for another time, but not here. Not now.
No, my point here was to identify a
different kind of patriotism, often dismissed by many who do not understand it,
and subscribe to the louder, more in your face version that is often seen as
real patriotism and love of country.
American flags wave all year long,
not just on the Fourth of July. Many people wave the flag proudly all year
long, even setting up flag poles in their back yards. That in and of itself is
not bad, per se. What is bad is the underlying message that many Americans have
heard ad nauseum, and believe to be true, ultimately repeating themselves. So
many say it and think it, having heard it expressed basically all of their
lives, that they have never stopped to think about it even a little bit, or
what it's possible ramifications are, or could be. It is not only related to
another thing that I have now written a series of blogs over in the recent past
(and intend to write quite a few more in the not too distant future), it is in
fact the main thing that separates America.
What is that thing, and why do I take
such exception to it? That thing would be the sense of superiority that
Americans have to the rest of the world. Too many Americans not only believe
this, but they equate "patriotism" to this belief, to the point that
suggesting anything short of this is somehow unpatriotic. It is firmly believed
by many, even by a solid majority of Americans, that the following is simply
the uncontested truth: that this country is the "greatest country in the
world", or the "shining city" that the rest of the world gazes
upon admiringly, or that the USA
is #1. Many people feel like believing and reciting these "facts" is
what patriotism is all about. What follows this logic is that anybody who
disagrees, or questions such mindless political rhetoric, is unpatriotic, or
even un-American.
That is why I say that, while I
consider myself patriotic in this sense, I do consider myself patriotic –
although it would not be a version of patriotism that most Americans might
necessarily recognize. I do not feel a sense of superiority to the rest of the
world, simply because I was born in these borders, or having grown up and lived
in the country that still ranks as the world's leading (if not only)
superpower. It is not because we can, and do, impose our power upon those who
are weaker than us, that I feel truly more attached to this land. In fact, that
is not a source of my pride at all.
What I love about America is, in
fact, numerous things, and on many levels. America has produced great minds,
great ideas, and great results. It is a beautiful land, with a vast expanse of
land and a diverse landscape. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific that it
expanded to, and even to the Arctic Ocean , it
is a country that offers enormous diversity. There are the isolated and
overgrown eastern woods of northern New England and New
York , to the untamed forests of towering evergreens in the Pacific
Northwest, or the Redwoods in northern California ,
or the vast wilderness expanses of Alaska .
This is a country of frigid winters in the northern states of the lower forty
eight, such as North Dakota , or Montana , Wyoming , or
around the Great Lakes, and New England . But
this is also the land of the Florida Everglades, or of the desert expanses in
the southwest. There are the Great Plains ,
where once both the buffalo, as well as the natives that hunted them, used to
dwell free. This is the land of much untamed wilderness, and thankfully, much
of it can still be seen and enjoyed in national parks, from the powerful falls
at Niagara, to the Grand Canyon that stretches for hundreds of miles, to the
spouting water of Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park, to the amazing and
rugged beauty of Yosemite.
Of course, it is not relegated only
to national parks. We have the Smoky Mountains farther down south, we have the Badlands up north. We have the world's only temperate
rainforest in Washington State (Lapush), and we have the rugged and largely
untouched and undeveloped coastlines of the Pacific
Northwest . We also have beautiful coasts along the Great Lakes,
particularly in Michigan 's Upper
Peninsula . We have what has often been referred to as the backbone
of America , in the Rocky
Mountains, or the tamer, far more ancient and rounded, more moderate mountains
of the Appalachians . There is the majesty of
the Cascade Mountains, and the spectacular, jagged peaks of the Olympic
Mountains not far away, on the other side of Puget Sound .
The endless grass of the Great Plains, and the incredible, almost lunar
landscape of some of the rock formations in western states, most famously
perhaps in Utah .
This is a land of sparkling lakes and dry desert land, of wetlands and of
rivers spanning the length of the nation. It is an incredibly diverse
landscape.
For that matter, it is a country that
can boast some incredible history, as well. It is a country that was inhabited
by natives for thousands of years, who's lifestyle remained largely untouched
by modernity, until the first settles from Europe
came five centuries ago, slowly but surely growing in numbers. In what is now
American territory, there were settlements from many European powers, including
Holland , Sweden ,
Russia , Spain , France ,
and Great Britain .
There were those who came here from these, as well as many other countries, as
well. Many Germans and Italians and Irish came here from Europe, and many
Chinese came here from Asia . Now, we find many
Indians and Pakistanis and Vietnamese who came here, as well. There are millions of people from all the
inhabited continents of the world represented here, and that offers an
incredible diversity in range and flavor.
This is a land that has produced many
great writers and thinkers, including those of the American Revolution –
something that I will write another separate blog entry about in the very near
future – probably tomorrow. But beyond that, the United
States also produced some incredible minds that have
changed the political landscape as well, including Abraham Lincoln, Frederick
Douglass, the visionary Woodrow Wilson, who envisioned the League
of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations), Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many more. It has produced some great
philosophers, thinkers, and literary icons. including Thoreau, Emerson,
Hawthorne, Alcott (and all of them from the same town of Concord, which also
happens to be the location of the first battle of the Revolution!), Mark Twain,
Poe, Melville, Steinback, Hemingway, Edgar Cayce, Faulkner, to many of the
famous authors of the present day.
Increasingly, the natives who were
present before the arrival of the whites also have also received increasing
recognition, as their approach to a more balanced way of life is gaining favor
with more and more people, as we find our lands, our water, and our air
poisoned and wasted with alarming regularity. I think that their wisdom, in
particular, will continue to gain much more currency with us, overall.
Yes, this is a country that enjoys a
lot of diversity in it's history, from the fragile creation of a fledgling and
small nation hugging the Atlantic coast, to it's expanding ever farther
westward, even through a grueling and devastating Civil War that many viewed as
a precursor to the Great War in Europe, to continued expansion into a de facto
empire (not always a history that we should automatically be proud of, but it
is part of the history nonetheless), to the rise of American power on a global
scale, to the point that it became perhaps the deciding factor in not one, but
two global wars. Then , it's rise even farther still, to a superpower of the
world as it entered a Cold War, during which time it enjoyed the benefits of the
highest standard of living for quite some time, and then the end of that era as
the Cold War came to a close, only to see it get entangled now in a
"war" on terrorism. We now see it also having it's fair share of
problems. Now, here we are, watching as China
seems to be rising, and Europe has now gotten
it's own share of problems.
This remains a largely stable place
to live, despite some severe problems, and seeing some of the violent places
around the world, that is nothing to simply scoff or shrug at, or take for
granted. That is huge, and I am thankful for that.
However, all of that does not
translate to being the best, the greatest, number one. My father came from
another country, and he always took exception to that notion of American
superiority. He used to ask me that, if America really is number one, then
who is number two? Who is number three, or ten, or one hundred? Who is dead
last? For that matter, does that mean that the life of an American is, by
necessity, more valuable than the life of those of other nationalities? What
exactly does it mean when we keep having to pat ourselves on the back and
reaffirming our status as the "greatest country in the world",
anyway? Does this not possibly enter into territory suspiciously similar to
vanity? How come so few people see this?
I want to say this one thing: I
personally feel that this level of patriotism is counterproductive, and
actually quite destructive. While it may make Americans feel good about
themselves, it is, in fact, a divisive, polarizing statement, and a highly
political one, at that. It does not matter that most Americans do not see it
that way, or the fact that both Democrats and Republicans (and many others
outside of the two major parties) feel and express these sentiments whole heartedly
as well. This may seem like something positive to Americans, something that
brings Americans together. But it sets them apart in a hidden way, as well, and
is a source of concern, if not resentment, to the rest of the world outside of
our borders. On top of it, this arrogance and presumption of American
superiority, or American exceptionalism, as it is often now referred to, blinds
many to the possibility of doing it any way but the "American way",
even when our way has not proven to work. That is a discussion that I could
engage in more, and about many topics (I again refer to the blog about
criminalizing affordable healthcare in America ), but this is a short blog,
and there is no room to get into the details here and now.
In short, it is a Trojan Horse. Plus,
it is not even patriotism. It is nationalism, and if anyone studies history,
especially recent history, we know that nationalism is not a good thing.
I enjoy the 4th of July,
Independence Day, and appreciate much of American history, as well (again, I
will write more about one particular aspect of it for tomorrow's entry). But I
do not subscribe to that superiority complex, which I personally feel does
damage. Patriotism should not necessarily translate to narcissism.
No comments:
Post a Comment