Patriotic
Lou Ann and I grew up like many of you. We celebrated the Fourth of July. Fireworks and lot’s of delicious unhealthy food. I have been stirred by many of the patriotic songs. You’re a Grand Old Flag, God Bless America, Yankee Doodle, America The Beautiful and others. I knew all the lyrics, and sang them with pride. I was innocent like many, who sang these inspiring words. Now in 2018 something is missing for me. Maybe it has been missing for a long time for a lot of us.
I believe in the epic words of Thomas Jefferson. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of course the term men refers to everyone for me. All people are created equal. All souls are spiritual and eternal and they get to choose whatever they desire. However, many of us do not know this.
The Declaration of Independence is about freedom. The freedom to choose our life. The challenge is, when I make my choice for freedom, does it infringe on someone else’s choices. There in lies the rub. Perhaps never before in recorded history has a country taken on such a tremendous challenge.
I don’t think it is necessary to be loyal or patriotic to a place, a flag, a history or any other thing. The dictionary definition of patriotic is “showing love for your country and being proud of it.” Right now there are a lot of things going on in our country that I am not proud of. Now, when I hear the National Anthem, I feel a sadness inside. I totally agree with the quarterback Colin Kapernick who knelt at the playing of the anthem last year. To me. he was saying he didn’t feel free and millions of others in our country weren’t free either. He was asking the question about how can we have freedom for all of the people of the United States?
I am patriotic to an idea. The idea of freedom for everyone. When there are those of us who are not free, for whatever reason, it our duty as Americans to find a way for them to have freedom as well. Freedom to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is nostalgic to listen to these old songs and marches. However I believe we need an anthem for a new age. One that is not about bombs bursting. An anthem that is about love and caring and compassion for all people of the Earth. A world anthem without borders that brings us all together. The God in us loves everyone and everything equally. Let us be the generation that finds a way for freedom for all the people and beings of the Earth. From my free heart to yours, Thomas