And yet, there is this other part of me that hesitates to join into patriotic events with full-force. I have learned enough about history to know that this "land of the brave and the free" has not always used its courage to defend the most vulnerable in its country or in other nations, nor has it always extended the freedoms it so values equally among its members. I know that as a young child I was taught history from the perspective of the victors - the Christopher Colombuses, the George Washingtons, and the Patrick Henrys. It took many years before I learned history from the perspective of the defeated - the Native Americans, the enslaved Africans, the women, the minorities whose new faces and languages were usually always greeted with dis-trust, if not hatred (and which whom continue to be greeted in such a way).
I also have a difficult time celebrating military exploits and victories. I have come to believe that the sons and daughters of our national enemies are not so different from our own sons and daughters and that they, too, are children of God. And so I cannot rejoice while other mothers are weeping. I have come to believe that our true enemies - hatred, racism, terrorism, ethnocentrism, greed - are not overcome by weapons of violence or revenge. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." And so instead, I believe that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he taught his followers to love and bless their enemies. The real victories belong to those who creatively overcame these "true enemies" with weapons of love, creativity, and non-violence.
And so why do I choose to write about this on this blog? Well, as a suburban girl trying to live with a global consciousness, I do not think it wise to look at things solely from my own national perspective. However grateful I am to be am American citizen and to enjoy the privileges of that fact, I in no way think that my status makes me superior to any other citizen of the world. And so on this Memorial Day, I must remember not only those American soldiers who have suffered and died, but also those other sons and daughters here and around the globe who have suffered and died, for what holds us in common is much more that what keeps us apart.
As a side note, my husband has been listening to A Peoples History of America by Howard Zinn, which tells the story of America from the perspective of the Defeated, rather than the Victors.
Fascinating entry, Annette, and so well put. I agree with you. Wish your little essay could be circulated in history classes as fodder for discussion.
ReplyDeleteI recently had a conversation with a friend about history classes. I told her how I wished it was somehow required to learn history after turning 18, since my young, unexperienced self was not able to make connections that help us see how history repeats itself unless we learn from it. Then, I thought it was boring. Now, I think it is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteMy friend made an excellent point that so much of our American history lessons revolve around colonial America and Independence and the Civil War. She thinks we should spend much more time on our more recent history, since there is so much to learn from, even in the past few decades. (She is eleven years older than I and taught me things about the Reagan administration I had never heard before.)
It wasn't until college that I was really awakened to the perspective of those oppressed by Americans, usually in the name of "freedom" or "development".