“It was hard to know how to feel. I had never been in a battle like this one. This had not been a fight for territory or riches or to make men free. This battle had no ego. It had been fought to preserve the food stores that would see us through winter, to protect the lives of women and children and loved ones only a few feet away. I felt a pride I had never felt before.” —John Dunbar, “Dances with Wolves”
In the now 15-year aftermath of 9/11, as Lee Greenwood bellows his pride in at least being free, and every immigrated American — which is all of us, pretty much — collectively turns a seemingly blind eye to the systematic dismantlement of our liberties by both sides of the two-party fence, it is refreshing to see actual Americans make a stand.
As a veteran and a staunch advocate for the liberties laid out in our founding documents, I cannot help but address the cognitive dissonance I experience when on the one hand I want to wax proud of my country yet also feel the shame of how our history books rarely tell the truth about how this nation was actually founded.
In short, our heritage is predicated in a fiction we called “Manifest Destiny” whereby we deemed an entire nation of indigenous people godless and therefore an obstacle that needed to be swindled, corralled, and/or killed.
And at the same time, I also feel compelled to face the unprecedented number of suicides our former military service members are committing and wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that this so called “war on terror” is going on two decades of occupation. Folks, that is not a war for freedom or liberty as much as it is military presence to secure our interests.
So the next time you thank a veteran, maybe it should be for your lifestyle as well as your freedom.
However, watching those Native Americans take a stand against extractive industries drives some of these contradictions all the way home for me.
These are not pseudo-constitutionalists surrounded by so-called militiamen with criminal records making an ill-informed stand for their own self-interests. Rather, these are people from the lineage of those who were here thousands of years before a couple of priests gave some land barons blessings and permission to take whatever the fuck they wanted at any cost.
These are people who legitimately have a right to take up arms as a sovereign nation, and yet they protest peacefully and all but beg the rest of us to — for once, just for once — consider something besides our own economic interests, to maybe at least ask before taking what is not ours to take.
And although their stand is justified, experience has taught them that they face being extinguished if they so much as think a violent thought.
I don’t know about you, but mine is a mixed bag of both pride and shame when I consider my country. I’m of the notion that the solution might well be in ceasing touting our love of liberty while at the same time robbing someone of theirs.
It’s a lesson that those who live here in Washington County know our leaders could stand to learn as well, no doubt. Remove the plank from thine own eye, anyone?
I think we can do better.
How about you?
See you out there.
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