Posted by
flagwaver on Thursday, July 03, 2008 12:32:40 PM
About 8 years ago I was having a conversation with my cousin about the political scene in America, and about the American experience in general, when he began to say things about how bad it was in America and how that was leading him to vote for Al Gore for President. As he began to say all of these negative things about America, I started to defend the country, but I felt like I needed to soften my comments so I said, “Don’t get me wrong, because I don’t love America all that much.” As soon as I heard those words come out of my mouth, I realized the import of what I had just said…that I didn’t love America. I think that it was a way to affirm my “blackness” to him, since we were both going through our “F**k Amerikka, I’m pro Black” stage and listening to a lot of rap music that was as hard on America as anyone on the left has ever been.
But as I realized what I had just said, that I didn’t love America, I felt ashamed to have let those words pass my lips…because they were a damnable lie. I did love America, and at that moment I proceeded to tell him so, and I proceeded to tell him why he should love America too. And at that moment I also realized that there is nothing that can make me not love this country, because there are none like it in all the earth.
And my love for America is unconditional in its nature. For my money, that is the only kind of love that exists and if a person puts conditions on love, there is no love there. Just as I love my wife without preconditions, and just as I love my children no matter what, so do I love my country. I know that America is not perfect, and I know that she never will be, but that does not diminish my love for her in the least.
I know all about America’s “original sin” and the effects of it down through the years, yet that does not dim my affection for this nation of ours. I look at it as I do with the people in my life that I love; it is something that cannot necessarily be forgotten, but it is something that must be forgiven. I have long forgiven America for the slave trade because she did her best to make amends for it; she fought a war and sacrificed thousands upon thousands of her best young men to make it right, and that effort shows me that America recognized her wrongs and was willing to go through hell to make it right.
I have forgiven her for her allowing Jim Crow to rise and predominate for so many years because I have seen the struggle to break those bonds brought to a successful end. Again, I saw people who had no direct contact with the problems of Jim Crow risk their very lives and some give the same, to bring the reality of America into line with the promise of America. And I have seen the American government institute program after program to attempt to make the victims of Jim Crow and their progeny whole as citizens of this land. I may not agree with the continuation of these programs at the present time, but I can recognize the reasoning behind them, and the fact that America, once again, was attempting to make things right.
And no matter which political Party “runs” the country, no matter who sits in the Oval Office, my love for America will not wane. No matter what happens in our political system, I will celebrate America in all of her glory. Where else in the world would I, the grandson of a sharecropper, have the opportunities in life that I have had to work and educate myself, and to build a brighter future for myself and my family? Where else would I have the freedom to say what I think about politics, religion, or society without having to worry about some type of official reprisal? Where else would I have the opportunity to make of my life what I will, regardless of my race, ethnicity, gender, or family background?
When I joined Town Hall I chose the name Flag-waver to let people know that no matter what, thick or thin, come what may I would be standing on top of the hill waving that banner that represents so much that is good in the world. And I chose it to always remind myself of what I once said and to repudiate it.
Because I love this country, I love its past, its present, and I look forward to its future. I love this country for what it is and what it aspires to be. And I love this country without regret or reservation.
Unconditionally.