A SEARCH FOR MEANING

My country ‘tis of Thee

Sweet land of liberty

Of Thee we sing

Land where our fathers died

Land of the pilgrims’ pride

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring

…

Great God, our King

This is a hymn of gratitude to God for bringing the oppressed Europeans out of the old country and into a new land. It was not meant to be a song worshiping the land itself.

This is a confusion based upon the poetical wording and a people’s tendency toward nationalism and tribalism.

These grateful European expats slaughtered the native people of the Americas in order to found their [our] new nation. Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equally by the God of our fathers who brought them out of exile, they take over.

So what do they do? Rather than mixing and fitting in and living peaceably, they slaughter, and found an empire to rival all prior empires.

Somehow, our forebears assumed and passed on to us, a belief in superiority. Egotistically assuming that we are God’s favored people. What about ‘all men?’

Bible verse I Kings 3: 9 is known as a verse within Solomon’s Prayer where he asks God for wisdom and understanding to judge

… this Thy so great a people…

Long and long, I have misapprehended that one simple phrase. I think most of us who have read or studied the Bible have misunderstood great parts of it, simply because of word usage and multiple definitions.

Great: We can take it to mean large or we can take it to mean superlative.

I believe many of us in this instance take it to mean superlative, wonderful, special. Solomon though, is referring to the largeness of the population, as is earlier explained when he says they cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude [verse 8.]

Those of us who consider ourselves Christians and those who are Jewish generally mean well when we study the Bible. There are some who read it to find verses to support their ungodly behavior, and there are many who actually take each word literally without studying the words to determine what they mean. We make many assumptions, such as when Jesus tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth. In our current vernacular, we define meek as almost synonymous with weak, and therefore either discount the admonition or use it to justify inaction and complacency.  Whatever word in Jesus’ Aramaic language that was translated into meek, actually meant moderate. Moderate as opposed to extremist.

O woe is me. I have always defined myself in part, as a patriot. God Bless America.

All well and good, however, I have recently discovered that the extreme form of patriotism is nationalism and I have long tended to lean in that direction. And that direction is extremist.

I love America, I am grateful to God for America, for our Founding Fathers and their wisdom and for our documents upon which our nation is based. Politically, I have become a constitutional conservative and a moderate [neither Left nor Right]

I honor and respect our flag, sing our songs by heart and say the pledge of allegiance and place my hand over my heart. I have taken that oath many times and I take it seriously.

If you don’t love it, then leave it.

The importance of America to the world is based upon the liberty and principles stated in our Declaration of Independence. The format of the nation as set up in the Constitution is indisputably crucial to maintaining a free country. And yet, today, many people have not read it, and many who have misunderstand it, particularly those such as Madeline Murray O’Hare and others who do not think for themselves but find some mouthpiece to follow and become a groupie thereunto have done much damage.

So now, I am attempting to discern how to be patriotic without being nationalistic.

Like Solomon, and like others in Judeo-Christian history, after coming out of exile, leaders seek power, wealth and protection and these are the fundamental building blocks of empire.

How to have successful civilization without empire?

Lets’ take a look at the movie AVATAR. Watch it and re-watch it. It’s a think piece beyond the pure entertainment value.

The meanings of words change over time. Like meat marinating in seasoned juices, words marinate within the bodies of the cultures in which they are the medium of communication.

We must bear that in mind  and think for ourselves for the betterment of all.