I am an American. I don't believe in the wars. I don't believe in war. I don't believe in the rapture. I don't believe in a trivial, warring, or vengeful God, only trivial and vengeful people that created and promulgated a trivial, warring, or vengeful god. Still I am an American. I believe that George W. Bush is a patriotic American, as is William Ayers, as is Bill O'Reilly, as is Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright.
We have lost it as a people to believe that we are not dynamic creatures. We have lost it to think that we are not complicated organisms of varied emotions and personalities and mores. It is a fallacy to think that we can destroy terrorism with the capture of Osama Bin Ladin or any individual. It is also a fallacy to think that "those we know" are without the propensity for evil. We all are the culmination of good and evil, and the redemptive moment is when we are propelled to operate in what is good.
I am one who tends to believe that the most needed act of reconciliation is the one we owe to ourselves. No more compartmentalization. No more requirement for people to stay in little boxes that bind and do not allow for people to fail and succeed, and ultimately, for anyone to be all of who they are.
I saw Oliver Stone's "W" today, and though I believe Bush is an idiot, Stone, perhaps inadvertently redeemed Bush in a way through this movie. Anytime someone's humanity is revealed is a God moment. Sure, it was filled with Hollywood conjecture, but it was a great beginning to forgiveness for the least popular president in history. The movie didn't fix anything for me, but at least now there is the opportunity to think of Bush as something other than a single-focus nutjob intent on forwarding us to the end of the world.
So Americans, get it together! Ultimately, what makes us American is our accident of birth or naturalization. After this, it is up to us as individuals to determine what that our patriotism means--whether to hide the flag pin in our hearts or wear it on our lapels, whether to participate in war or not, whether to vote for the best candidate or just vote the party line without thought. But what we need to take on as a function of our Americanism is the intent to reach out and broaden our perspectives. This can heal our land.
