Proud to be an American?

I began to wonder about how patriotic I am (or maybe not) these days when I was watching the fireworks on the fourth of July. Now, the picture here is much grander than what we experienced in Mogantown, from our place standing on the Westover bridge in the rain. Still, I do love fireworks. Never knowing what will be next, the color, the sound, it is just exciting. But I digress.

While I was watching, I began to think about what that day meant to a lot of people, even those standing around me. Some of you know, and many would not be surprised to find out, that I am not really the most patriotic of people. Never really have been. And kinda would get mad when my grandma would inevitably have red, white, and blue paper products for our July birthday celebration every year (of which I was one of the birthdays). Not to mention always having fried chicken. Double yuck.

I would always tell people that I was NOT patriotic, not because I disagreed with the sentiment, but because I did not want to be lumped in with the large amount of people who were blindly and often ridiculously, patriotic without thinking about what they believed.

I think I can trace a lot of my anti-patriotism to my senior year of high school/freshman year of college, when I took Honors History/English with Dr. Ruff and Ms. Blomgren. Oh I hated it to some degree back then, but it ended up being a class that changed the way I viewed life more than any other. You see, it taught me the value of critical thinking, and knowing why you believe what you believe. Well, I was very disenchanted with the US as a whole at that point, a majority of which was probably unfounded and just as backwards as people who are blindly patriotic. Maybe I was just as blind as they were though.

But I have continued on that path to this day. Now I am not anti-American, or against any of the people, so don't get me wrong. In fact, I think that as Americans we have been given a great gift. The problem is how we use it. We are typically arrogant, loud, obnoxious, and covetous. We never get enough, and we don't know how to say no to our own desires.

Over the past week I read another book (I know, shocking that I have made the time). This one is called Jesus for President, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. you see, all too often we get caught up in being American, and in politics, being liberal or conservative, republican or democrat. It kind of reads like a deep picture book for adults, and is full of fun graphics that make the point of whatever the topic is.

"The danger is that we can begin to read the Bible through the eyes of America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. We just want Jesus to be a good American. "

I think that sums up the way a lot of us view things. WE separate church and state to such a degree that we no longer even think about what the bible says about politics, or how we should interact with others. We just want Jesus to fit in our nice little box, to come out and magically forgive our sins. We don't really want to consider how he lived his life, in a bizarre and creative fashion of loving people no matter what. No, that would be very difficult to actually do, so we take the easy way out and just think about politics in its own box, school in its own box, work, church, friendships, you name it. We keep it all separate.

What would it look like if we instead allowed Jesus to color all we do?

Would we be fighting a war on the other side of the world? Would we be allowing people in our own country to live in poverty? Would we allow extreme poverty to exist worldwide? Would we continue to allow the heinous things the government does be seen as ok?

Take a moment and think on that. Now, I'm not asking you to become less patriotic. But think perhaps of pledging allegiance to the Lord instead of to the flag.

I'll end with a little bit from the book. (Again, if you have any time and can read- which since you are reading this I'm assuming is a yes- please pick up a copy of this book. It will definitely challenge you, and even if you don't agree wholeheartedly with it, it can make you think about things from a little different perspective.) One of the authors (Shane) wrote this while he spent some time in Iraq (during which he was working with others to bring aid to those in need, even though they were from a country we were fighting against). Apparently he had been asked about being a traitor since he was "supporting" the people in Iraq.

"Traitor?

If this bloody, counterfeit liberation is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If depleted uranium is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If US sanctions are American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

If the imposed "peace" of Pax Americana is American...

I'm proud to be un-American.

But if grace, humility, and nonviolence are American...

I'm proud to be American.

If sharing to create a safe, sustainable world is American...

I'm proud to be American.

If loving our enemies is American...

I'm proud to be American."