God Bless America

November 11, 2008

by Norla M. Antinoro

Today I experienced both pride and shame in my nation and my species. It’s Veterans Day and it often has that effect on me. I live among people who are of the generations who served in the military if they were male. Almost no exceptions. Some were sent to the State Department to do diplomatic work, some served in the Coast Guard, but they all served. But as we stood to sing God Bless America and honor our veterans, the real meaning of all the hoopla came home to me strongly. Two men in this group of 100+ did not stand or raise their hands when asked if they had served in the military. One was from Peru. The other born in Germany in 1920. The fortysomething man from Peru said he declined military service because there is enough violence in the world and he declines to add to it. The quiet elderly German in the back of the room spoke very softly and was clearly uncomfortable. He served in the military of the Third Reich. The closest the men who on a normal day work and play alongside this man would come to friendly interaction with this man today was saying “You did what you had to do. And so did we.”

Exactly what are we honoring when we stand and sing about our brave veterans and our courageous dead? Are we not actually supporting the Universal Soldier? The spirit of conflict in humanity that leads us into war after war?

Yes, I love my country. Yes, I honor the men and women who have served her. But it is not only the men and women in military uniform who have worked and suffered and sacrificed for this country. And it is not only the dead.

When we look at WWII and start handing our honors, where are the honors for Rosie the Riveter? Where are the accolades for the women and some men who stayed on the farms and fed civilian and soldier alike? Where is the honor and praise for the doctors who stayed home and delivered the babies who are now the leaders of our country? And when, oh when, do we start to honor the men and women who have worked and sacrificed for peace?

Yes, this is Veterans Day or Remembrance Day when we honor the fallen and those who have served our country. But I think it’s time we started honoring all the citizens of this country who work for its survival. Do we have a Peace Workers Day? Do we have a conscientious objectors day? A war resistors day? It takes a rare kind of courage to refuse to fight when the whole culture is praising the combative heroes.

I raised my voice in song perhaps a little louder than the rest providing a counterpoint for all. God Bless America indeed. Because she needs it now and she’s going to need it for some time to come.

It’s going to take a lot of work for this country to get back the progress the Bush administration gave away. It is going to be hard work just to get us back to where we were in 1999. To make progress beyond where we were then is almost unimaginable.

We no longer have lynchings every summer as we did in my childhood. But we still have the KKK harassing non-white citizens of small towns with impunity. We still have disenfranchisement of voters here and there across the country by unscrupulous white supremacists. The Fairness Doctrine has gone. Roe v. Wade is in danger. Political expediency makes decisions that are not in the best interests of the American people. The Fed and banks are refusing to explain what they are doing with the billions of dollars this country is giving out to rescue the economy.

We are better off than we were 100 years ago but not as much as we should be. Because of the deliberate obstructionism of the Bush and Reagan administrations our country stands about where it did in 1964 right after the Civil Rights Act passed. We have a lot of losses to regain and a lot of progress not made to account for. Progress in social justice and green technology that should have been ours and would have been ours if the existing corporations had not obstructed their growth and development.

God Bless America. Without some sort of Divine Intervention this country may be on a long slide down hill. The people are going to expect miracles and are going to be angry when miracles are not forthcoming. So it’s back to 1963 and the roads that lead us to Birmingham and Mississippi. Long hard marches that have to be done again to regain what was lost. And while we are regaining, we need to keep walking forward toward a just economy and a just and egalitarian nation.

God Bless America. She’s going to need all the help she can get.

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Written by Norla Antinoro · Filed Under Misanthropy

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Letter to the Editor: Good Cars need Good Teams - by R. A. Letcher, PhD

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