Fireworks are emblematic of cannons and fires in 18th Century warfare. But don’t tell my 2.5 year old that! She liked them and clapped her hands as they went off one boom after the next. I was always scared of the explosions as a child . . . guess I was overly nervous then. I love them now. The blues, yellows, green, swirls of light, and ever expanding gun powder shells take my breath away every time. I think my point is that:
Do we enjoy things emblematic of war? -or- Do we simply enjoy the lit sky while forgetting 1776?
If you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s film, “The Patriot,” you know that his child wasn’t sitting on his lap enjoying the “rockets red glare.” Instead, he was going to fight. We don’t think about fighting a war in suburbia, well here in Victorville anyway, because we live behind well-fostered illusions of safety. Is America the best country in the world? Is the system of freedom we enjoy the best? These are questions we rarely ask in suburbia. Why not? Because they aren’t threatened on our doorstep. So then comes the question:
“What would you die for?”
I mean that rhetorically only. That flag when it flies is not emblematic of a government building, or a school assembly, or even a baseball game. The flag is calling out in the blood red stripes of those who died in the revolutionary war.
America is a relatively young “civilization,” compared to ROME just to name one other. She can fall just as ROME did. With the deficit and the Al Qaeda war of terror against us happening, one might say it’s nearer than ever before.
The flag calls out to you and me daily and it says:
“Here is something to die for. Any takers?”
I’d like to close with a link to a rather long post. In fact, it’s a copy of a short story by Yukio Mishima. If you get the time PLEASE give it a read. (9 pages single spaced on WORD and 9,488 words)
Whenever I hear the word “Patriotism” I think of this short story. I must warn you in advance however that it contains scenes of graphic violence that may disturb some.
But of course, I wouldn’t be citing such a story here unless it was extremely relevant to my point.
Yukio Mishima’s: “Patriotism“
Hi. I'm Damien Riley, MA.
2 Comments
I admit, I will not read it, I cannot handle even grossness of lesser magnitude. I have taken to heart, however, your reminder of the red stripes on the flag. And I did choose to link (in my Thursday Thirteen) to your entry below this where you asked our thoughts on patriotism.
I do think of fireworks only as celebration - but I associate them more with July 4th than with New Years or otherwise.
Thanks for that link! I’m hoping to get some comments on patriotism and how it lives out there in everybody’s heads.
The point the short story makes is hard to make in a summary. You should just go read it. It’s fiction you know? And it shows a form of Japanese patriotism seldom imagined in the West. Really makes you think (it makes me think anyway). It’s not all hard to read, maybe as it starts getting bad you could stop. I think it’s an important read for anyone thinking about patriotism. (but if you still decline I understand!)
Thanks again for linking my article.
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