dragoncortez's Journal: Early July 4th entry

I saw this in the paper this morning and really liked it, although posting it seems like copying Some Woman...

God doesn't bless only Americans
By Tom Wharton
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist (sltrib.com)

Protesters gathered in front of Salt Lake City's Federal Building each night as the war in Iraq approached, urging those driving by to honk for peace. As the fighting approached, their numbers grew. So did a contingent of pro-war folks who set up across 100 South.
When much of the shooting ended, the number of sign carriers dwindled. Some nights, as I drove home from work, they were often gone.
But one man, wearing a colorful hat and sitting on State Street, occasionally showed up carrying a sign with words that sparked something deep in my conscience.
The sign brought out a festering frustration with all the right-wing patriotic nonsense that swept America after winning a war where the ultimate result was never in doubt and where the only sacrifices being made were by our soldiers.
Driving past, I may have missed the exact wording. But the sign read something like this:
"God Bless Every Nation."
I have always wondered why, during times of war, politicians end speeches with the intonation "God Bless America."
Why should God bless America and not Iraq, France, Germany, Canada, Israel, Russia, North Korea, Iran or any other country in the world?
Have we become so blinded by our patriotism, so convinced of our righteousness, that we think the deity should bless us and not other people in the world?
And should those of us who call ourselves Christians believe that America is somehow worthier of being blessed?
When we go to church on Sunday aren't we taught to help the poor, to exercise tolerance and to love our enemies?
Asking God to bless America seems unworthy of both church and country, jingoism of the worst sort.
We Americans are no better, no worse, no more worthy of blessing than any other human on the planet.
This all reminds me of the late Woody Guthrie, a folksinger and one of my heroes. Guthrie quickly tired of hearing Kate Smith sing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."
So, he wrote the classic "This Land Is Your Land."
According to Wikipedia.org, Guthrie was blacklisted in the 1950s. "I ain't a communist necessarily," he once quipped, "but I been in the red all my life."
Most of us can relate.
Two verses of "This Land Is Your Land" are usually omitted in the more modern version of a song some think would make a better national anthem than "The Star Spangled Banner."
Sadly, at least one of Guthrie's verses seems more appropriate today in a country where the rich get richer and the poor struggle more, a strange twist of fate in a place God supposedly has blessed.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

As the July Fourth holiday approaches, Americans should exercise patriotism in their own way.
As I watch the fireworks explode over Sugar House Park this year, I will think of the protester carrying the hand-lettered sign in front of the Federal Building.
Patriotism comes in many forms. Americans can proudly fly their flag, use their talents to serve their country and celebrate the sacrifices of those who came before.
Speaking freely is also patriotic. We should salute those who dare to be different, who shake us out of our complacency.
"God Bless every nation."

nationalism

[nick_drake]

it's nice to see that at least 4 people in this country (the columnist, the sign-carrier, yourself, and me) see through the narrow-minded nationalism that plagues our country right now.

i found it encouraging to read your journal entry.

ok, so i skimmed it, but... you know. i'm sure it would be *really* encouraging if i would have read the entire article.

Re:nationalism

[dragoncortez]

Maybe you don't feel the need for further encouragement, but I'll tell you anyway, that there are indeed more than four of us. :)