2-5-18<\/p>\n
Edward Everett Hale wrote a short book, originally a magazine story, about a sailor who denounced the United States, was convicted of treason, and was sentenced to sail the seas thereafter for entire life, never allowed to step foot on American soil nor receive any news of the US from fellow sailors.<\/p>\n
Gradually this Philip Nolan grew repentant, then homesick, finally desperate, for any news of his native country. In his final days he invited another sailor to his cabin, there to see flags and eagles and patriotic symbols painted on the walls. He died and was buried at sea, a \u201cman without a country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published in 1863, the tale is a message about loyalty, clearly a metaphor for the Civil War and the essential appreciation of patriotism. It also addresses the primal attraction we have for Identity. \u201cIdentity Politics\u201d is a theme of our day \u2013 everything from joining clubs to trying to choose one\u2019s sex midway through life. It is a very different thing than nationalism or even chauvinism. As Abe Lincoln said, about as alike as a chestnut horse is to a horse chestnut.<\/p>\n
We choose names for our identities and loyalties, usually good tries, but usually insufficient.<\/p>\n
President John F Kennedy, at the height of the Cold War, famously spoke in front of the recently constructed Berlin Wall, the city\u2019s demarcation from the Communist East. Before an enthusiastic half-million people, he twice delivered a pledge of solidarity: \u201cAll free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!\u201d<\/p>\n
There were a few problems with the stirring line, despite the audience\u2019s raucous response. He spoke in his trademark Boston accent, a challenge to local English-speakers. He was prompted to pronounce \u201cIch\u201d as \u201cish\u201d \u2013 more Yiddish than German, causing some confusion about his intention. Despite subsequent historical revisionism, however, the crux of the speech\u2019s reception was the identification with Berlin.<\/p>\n
Europeans often name foods after cities. Frankfurters and Hamburgers and Wieners are the kinds that originated in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Vienna. We can know where Limburger cheese and Bologna originated. French toast and English muffins are virtually unknown in France and England; but marketers knew the value of geographic identification. A popular pastry from Berlin is called by the locals a \u201cBerliner.\u201d Basically a jelly donut.<\/p>\n
So, yes, John F Kennedy declared to half million people, the Soviet leaders, and the world in general, that he was a jelly donut. I think I mentioned that the crowd noisily erupted. As I said, revisionist historians have since disputed\u2026 what they cannot really dispute. <\/p>\n
In a way, that story can unmask patriotic passions as sometimes being silly, or at least futile. But in the end, most of us still are proud of our backgrounds and our nations. Perhaps in fewer numbers, but many of us still get misty-eyed when the National Anthem is played or a veteran is laid to rest. For those who do not, shame on them. For athletes who ostentatiously dismiss the flag, more shame.<\/p>\n
I have said I regard patriotism as a primal impulse, and basically one of self-protection, pride, and nurture. Like the difference between country and nation. In Europe, volk<\/em> translates to more than a population \u2013 the family of fellow countrymen; the group with shared values and experiences. Similarly heimat<\/em> is more than home or homeland or community. \u201cSoul\u201d and \u201csoil\u201d are more than cognates.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t have such earnest but inchoate words in English, or in America. In our case, however, we inculcate \u2013 because we have inherited at great cost \u2013 values<\/em> like Democratic Republic; free enterprise; equality of opportunities; freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech. <\/p>\n It is why a Swede, say, moving to, say, Argentina will always be called \u201cthat Swede down the street\u201d; and an American in Paris will always be\u2026 an American in Paris; not a Frenchman. But \u2013 as current debates reinforce \u2013 immigrants and migrants are fairly soon called \u201cAmericans\u201d after they arrive. And are so.<\/p>\n The Bible addresses this issue, because there are larger truths involved. We are spirits, intimately known to God while yet in the womb; and will live eternally according to Judgment and the Grace of God. That is, in this vale (valley) of tears, we are passing through for a moment of all eternity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace\u201d (I Chronicles 29:15, NLT). \u201cSojourners\u201d in some translations; \u201cPilgrims\u201d in others. \u201cStrangers\u201d in all.<\/p>\n This world is not our home. We reside here awhile, and sometimes it seems all too real, and hard. Sometimes we fully experience, or occasionally have mere glimpses of, joy. I am not a cynic, but a reporter: it is useful to remember our \u201ctemporary status.\u201d As Christians we have green cards, so to speak, because we are on the way to another place\u2026 a better place.<\/p>\n God creates a universe, and a wondrous world, and His family of children, to live a relatively few seconds in His eternal Forever? No thought is needed, and our heads would start hurting anyway. It pleases Him to design things this way. We pass from life to death to\u2026 life eternal. Somehow that seems like a good deal. Heaven will be our home, with mansions. \u201cIf it were not so, I would not have told you.\u201d<\/p>\n God could have made us as jelly donuts, but He created us in His own image. He loves us passionately \u2013 enough to create us with free will; enough to have given us a \u201cGet out of jail free\u201d card in the form of His Son assuming our death sentences. Enough that, wherever we live or die, we are not people without a country.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n