askyermom

I have seen an increase of smearing others with the verdict of “unAmerican.” People are being tossed out of the country rapidly, without the expected ceremonies and procedures, because they are deemed unlawful residents, or “non-Americans.” (Never mind that the law applies to all persons regardless of citizenship). Those who complain about the Government are being labeled “anti-American.” It seems to me there is more chatter about what it is not, rather than what it is to be an American.

You know I love to wrestle with some language, so I will.

I was surprised the other night at a concert to find myself weeping a bit at the national anthem. I’m sad and mourning the country I thought I called home. I could sense that all the people there had the same sensation. Music is a short cut to some emotional nerve the health influencers haven’t named yet, and the whatever nerve was humming in sympathy at the symphony.

I’m depressed because I thought we were passed segregating and attacking our own people. I believed bigotry was always going to be evermore rejected. It’s a bummer to be so mistaken about the depth of our problems. I feel like we’re undergoing national chemotherapy for bad-idea cancer.

Maybe like those who have more power, I can talk about what it means to be American in a wishful way, even though I have only personal power. While it might be argued that in reality it is American to be racist and greedy, I prefer to think in hopeful terms. I like to aim for the healthy version of the U.S. I want to put the idea in a positive future.

Most children will respond to this question, Who is an American? with some uncertainty. They would likely say, “A person with freedom?” Children don’t get a lot of freedom, but they know the word, they know its value here.

I think that’s the best answer, really. Nice and simple and to the point: An American is a person with freedom.

We’re in the land of the free and home of the brave, after all.

Why should bravery have to barge in on it? Can’t we just be free? Apparently not. The first thing free people do is enjoy their freedom and the second thing they do is try to mess with other people’s freedom.

This is why we need to be brave. We have to protect our freedom. Sure, laws are supposed to support that effort, but laws go astray, too. People love to complicate things to try to get a better angle on their own goals. We are free to be greedy. We are free to allow the law to benefit the greedy.

It’s correct to be very suspicious of new laws that impose new limits on freedom. There are already so many laws. They aren’t supposed to be there to bully people or make moral statements and yet that happens and has always happened. We are free to try bullying others and we are free to believe we know better. Ideally, the law comes in when one person’s freedom bumps into someone else’s freedom, if only to make them take turns as a solution, like a traffic light.

Bravery is also required to put up with other people’s freedom. That guy who stands on the corner and belches for a full 75 seconds and then says, “Hey, it’s a free country!” that guy is correct and you need the bravery to just walk on and let him be whatever he is.

Bravery is sometimes needed to stand up to injustice, to speak your truth, to guard freedoms, even the annoying ones.

It doesn’t have to be so complicated, or so difficult for the average person to remember the basics of being a free citizen. Be true to yourself, don’t harm anyone… and that pretty much covers the basics of being free.

That leaves plenty of energy for bravery to stand up for freedom, too.

You got this.

Love,
yermom

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