Journal Daniel Dvorkin's Journal: By the Banks of the Great Mother Platte 8
As an American, and specifically as a Westerner, I reject the idea that culture is in the blood. The West is a distillation of America, with all its best and worst ideas, and one of these ideas is that we are who we choose to be, not who our ancestors were. Our names, our languages, our religions, even our lands: these things matter, but they do not define us; we define ourselves.
But I have to admit that there is something distinctly Russian in the way I see America, and particularly Colorado. The Motherland, the Rodina. A very old way of thinking, and one which doesn't fit particularly well with the New World.
The linguistic root of "patriotism" is "patria," that is, "fatherland" -- a word which tends to make people nervous these days, and with good reason. I am a patriot, and (says the Westerner again) I choose what that word means to me. I am far past the age when it meant beating the drum and waving the flag. I did that when I was younger, and I don't regret it, but honestly I'm not sure how well it ever fit me. Nor, with my rational modern eye, can I indulge in the idea of mommy-land; I've lived too many places (largely as a side effect of the drum-beating and flag-waving, it should be noted) and known them too well to believe that any of them is bound to me by blood.
Grown-ups love their parents too, even when they go far from home. Adult patriotism is hard to define. It's easier to remain a child, to be tough like Daddy says or run crying to Mommy when acting tough doesn't work out so well. My parents raised me with something more thoughtful and more useful than that, and in so doing earned my eternal gratitude.
I'm still working out how to apply that to my country. I probably will be for the rest of my life.
(Jumping off from the conversation here, for those who are interested.)
Really? (Score:2)
Everything else is optional.
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:)
Agreed, however... (Score:2)
As an American, and specifically as a Westerner, I reject the idea that culture is in the blood. The West is a distillation of America, with all its best and worst ideas, and one of these ideas is that we are who we choose to be, not who our ancestors were.
Yet (as you later noted), some must indeed be in the blood. A short excerpt from an eight year old journal [kuro5hin.org]:
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I agree, I'm just not entirely easy with it.
memory might be in the blood (Score:2)
I like to think about a time when Colorado had not yet been settled by European-Americans. Or at least before the Evangelicals took over.
When I travel near Golden Gate Canyon (which is about every other year) I very uncharacteristically think about a Supreme Designer for some reason. And while I may not believe that said Designer was intelligent, I am struck by his eye for Beauty.
And if by some highly unlikely event there actually had been a Designer, I believe with all my being that he's not concerned wi
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Heh. Everyone should take a beer and a break from rationality now and then.
FWIW, I think Colorado is pretty close to the national average, politics-and-religion-wise. We have a high concentration of right-wing fundie nutballs in Colorado Springs, to be sure, but they're not representative of the whole state.
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You know, you're right. I guess my viewpoint is skewed because when I travel to Colorado, I usually start my visit near Colorado Springs, visiting family members who are some of those nutballs.
My trips are usually two or three days with the fundie relatives and then two or three weeks in sparsely populated areas enjoying the stunning beaut
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Yeah, starting anywhere near the Springs can really skew your perception. Pueblo and Denver are quite liberal, Ft. Collins goes back and forth, and of course we've got Boulder still doing its Berkeley-wannabe thing after all these years.
The incident with your daughter is a reasonable thing to bear a grudge for, no matter where it happened. I'm sorry.