Being American

Being an American should be like being clergy!

In spite of what some people believe, being clergy is not about privilege, neither is it about abusing power for one’s own gain, nor is it about hypocrisy. It is about Responsibility, not privilege. It is being called to living a higher standard�"being held accountable to stricter rules and opinions, even when those holding clergy accountable refuse to accept those standards for themselves. 

Being “American” should be like being clergy: we hold ourselves to a higher standard of justice, mercy, equality, liberty, Human Rights and economics. Being “American” should be a model of behavior and a code of conduct to which we are so committed that we would rather face death than be found to be “Un-American” because we should know that dying for our “American” values bears witness to their reality and their truth and their power; whereas abandoning them in the face of fear and death only shows to all that we never really believed in those things ourselves, so we were never surprised or disappointed when no one else accepted them either.

Anyone who chooses to identify himself as “American” must be willing to die to defend the rights of all people, regardless of who and where they are, regardless of whether the “American” agrees with what is being advocated. Being “American” means being willing to die to defend Human Rights, because a TRUE “American” knows that having those rights is not what makes us human, but understanding that we only become human when we insist on others having rights.

Being an American is not about being born in a particular place, it is not about having a particular form of government, it is not about using particular words in our speech, it is not about waving flags, but it is about holding firm to particular ideas and values. Being “American” is more like being a “Church” than a country�"it is a “Church” that maintains the “priesthood of all believers”; therefore, being “American” should be like being clergy. We should incarnate the just, free, equal society that maintains Human Rights and Civil Liberties for all, to show the world what it could become if it only had the courage of our convictions. 

But if we ourselves no longer have the courage of our convictions, then every time we use the word “American,” we blaspheme America and cast ourselves out of the heaven of our own making, and plunge ourselves into the hell we have devised for ourselves, forged by fear and short-sightedness. It is the worst of all possible hells, because it is the hell of knowing what we could have been, while being convicted by the fact that we were too afraid to be it.

Reviews

[Mizo4]

interesting prose, poses powerful questions like willing to die for the human rights. It's definatly important to uphold civil democracy and theres some interesting use of language in this prose.

[Father Mojo]

Ha! I had forgotten I had written that. I wonder what I was angry at that set me off on that rant?

[Mizo4]

hahaha fair enuff :)

[Father Mojo]

After years of study of History (including English History) and political science, I do think that "America" is an ideal -- I think our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are sort of Mission Statements. I also believe that America is her values, and if we as Americans lose sight of those values, then there is no America, regardless of whether there is a working government, a population, and a geographical region on a map.

[Father Mojo]

But I have a whole history of being wrong about stuff, so I wouldn't take anything I say too seriously.

[Mizo4]

awww no i know what you mean, its a good prose, yeah its an idealised notion that needs to be kept in tact for their to be a place with that in it... god you can see why im getting a third in my anthropology course lol :D hope ya well

[Father Mojo]

My anthropology is rusty, but my Sociology is okay. Do they still talk about the Yanomamo people. That's all I remember talking about years ago. Thanks for taking the time to read. I hope to see more of you. You are clearly clever enough to know good work when you see it. ;)

[Mizo4]

Ahh yeah i studied the Yanomamo in my first year of anthropology. It's such an interesting course but ill be glad to see the back of my anthropology degree next year. only two more classes yipeee :)