Matriotism

Independence Day has come and passed this year with its fair share of bombs bursting in air. I didn't get to see many fireworks, and still can't understand the fascination with the colorful explosions. Surely they appeal to some basic human instinct that demonstrates and affinity for climaxes. There's certainly something orgasmic about the ceremonial combustion, but like sex, it is both celebratory and violent. The Star-Spangled Banner was written about war and has become the sacred anthem of our nation. I suppose we simply love bombs. It's not obvious to me what is truly so fascinating about destruction. Perhaps it's the capability of detonating the world that gives us confidence and comfort that no one would fuck with Uncle Sam. I feel like using the song "America the Beautiful" would be a significant improvement, and while this seems irrelevant, the emblematic hymn of a nation unveils its true values to its own citizens and to the rest of the world. The lyrics are as follows:

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the enameled plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air and music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet, whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought by pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale of liberating strife
When once and twice, for man's avail men lavished precious life!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again thy whiter jubilee!

Now, I know there are some redundant verses that we could probably abridge, and I think that Katherine Lee Bates' closing line could be edited due to the racial implications the word "whiter" has undertaken over the years, but the song focuses on what truly makes this country beautfil as oposed to Francis Scott Key's poem which glorifies our nations legacy of war:

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Yeah, I get that it's a great flag, but isn't a nation more than a symbolic piece of cloth. I guess that's a discussion for another time. But I still don't like that the poem is built around questions. I supposed it's nice if we're being reminded that citizens should always question their nation and it's leaders, but I'd rather be reminded of the firm foundations and principles upon which my country was built. Also, the tune that the poem is set to is a British drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven" the chorus of which is "And besides I'll instruct you, like me, to intwine the Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine." I mean, I know Americans love booze and sex, but they certainly aren't the values I want to be reminded of when trying to summon profound respect and patrotism. The song doesn't even mention our name! In the end, it's not that relevant and probably will never earn enough attention to change, but I just wanted to reflect on our nations obsession with blowin' shit up.

Patriotism is a difficult concept to digest, especially in the context of world peace. I know we're all born expected to love our motherlands or fatherlands, but is that as high as our loyalties go? What about religion? We're supposed to love our gods with every fiber of our existence, but when in life are we told to love human life above all else. We're so proned to categorize ourselves so immediately in life that it's almost a hopeless cause. Nationalism and it tennets are another divisive force. It seems that we only unite together to fight an outside enemy. In the World Cup, the Ivory Coast issued a cease-fire between the government and rebels, and truly competition draws people of the same demographic together cohesively to fuel their xenophobia and jingoism. I suppose the only way to expand that sentiment to a global context would be to fight an outside enemy of an extra-terrestrial nature. The seemingly unlikliness of this occurence does not bode well for John Lennon's dream of a world with "nothing to kill or die for." Unfortunately, as long as people thirst for the emotions that patriotism provides, we can only imagine.