In the name of honor and of our country, we fight. We fight to defend our freedom and we fight in order to defend our PATRIOTISM.
Yet, as we are exposed to the different things our soldiers and people have committed overseas and the general public is disgusted by what our soldiers have done.
The patriotism we once knew, was our national pride, and as a nation we took it very seriously. Our country has fallen into a state of fear and distrust, the trust between the people and the government has disappeared, people no longer have the same pride for the place they call home.
As the people lost interest in their sense of patriotism, people began to hijack this founding idea and belief of our country and changed it.
The patriotism we once loved and cherished has been twisted.
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN INNOCENCE
The Death of American Innocence
By: Tess Baumberger
Innocence does not die at once, in that first raptured thrust.
It dies in each small seduction, in every subsequent acquiescence.
American innocence did not die in that bright flashing terrorist act,
it dwindled breath by breath, in great and tiny acts of terror,
It died with every smallpox blanket sold to an Indian village,
with every arrogantly greed-wrested acre,
with every language and culture that disappeared,
it died on the Trail of Tears.
It died with every African shackled and torn from homeland, family,
with every auction block sale of humanity,
with every black woman raped by a white slave owner,
it died in the Middle Passage.
It died with every civil rights activist beaten or killed,
with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers
it died in Montgomery and Selma and Little Rock.
It died with Roosevelt's refusal to accept Jews fleeing the Nazis,
it died with every black man sent first to the front lines
it died with two atomic weapons dropped upon Japan,
170,000 lives lost in two great flashing instants.
It dies with every chemical weapon developed,
with every nuclear test, wherever it happens,
with every bomb or jail built instead of a school.
It dies with every KKK rally and every single lynching,
with every man searched by police because he's black,
with every black man beaten by white officers,
with every child who witnesses or perpetuates gang warfare,
it dies with every racist or sexist or homophobic or anti-Semitic joke.
It dies with every bombed synagogue, mosque, temple,
with every black church burned,
with every abortion clinic bombed,
with every hate-filled word or deed.
It dies with every sweatshop built on a poorer country's soil,
with every product bought, made by a political prisoner,
with every homeless person,
with every starving despairing child.
Oh, innocence never dies at once, only delusion does.
Patriotism has been used time and time again in order to defend American acts of inhumanity and injustice.
In the poem above, Baumberger includes many of the injustices and inhumane acts committed by Americans.
Baumberger's poem is illuminating to the fact that the innocence we once held as a nation has disappeared, and we are delusional to believe we still have it.
Yet, as we are exposed to the different things our soldiers and people have committed overseas and the general public is disgusted by what our soldiers have done.
The patriotism we once knew, was our national pride, and as a nation we took it very seriously. Our country has fallen into a state of fear and distrust, the trust between the people and the government has disappeared, people no longer have the same pride for the place they call home.
As the people lost interest in their sense of patriotism, people began to hijack this founding idea and belief of our country and changed it.
The patriotism we once loved and cherished has been twisted.
THE DEATH OF AMERICAN INNOCENCE
The Death of American Innocence
By: Tess Baumberger
Innocence does not die at once, in that first raptured thrust.
It dies in each small seduction, in every subsequent acquiescence.
American innocence did not die in that bright flashing terrorist act,
it dwindled breath by breath, in great and tiny acts of terror,
It died with every smallpox blanket sold to an Indian village,
with every arrogantly greed-wrested acre,
with every language and culture that disappeared,
it died on the Trail of Tears.
It died with every African shackled and torn from homeland, family,
with every auction block sale of humanity,
with every black woman raped by a white slave owner,
it died in the Middle Passage.
It died with every civil rights activist beaten or killed,
with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers
it died in Montgomery and Selma and Little Rock.
It died with Roosevelt's refusal to accept Jews fleeing the Nazis,
it died with every black man sent first to the front lines
it died with two atomic weapons dropped upon Japan,
170,000 lives lost in two great flashing instants.
It dies with every chemical weapon developed,
with every nuclear test, wherever it happens,
with every bomb or jail built instead of a school.
It dies with every KKK rally and every single lynching,
with every man searched by police because he's black,
with every black man beaten by white officers,
with every child who witnesses or perpetuates gang warfare,
it dies with every racist or sexist or homophobic or anti-Semitic joke.
It dies with every bombed synagogue, mosque, temple,
with every black church burned,
with every abortion clinic bombed,
with every hate-filled word or deed.
It dies with every sweatshop built on a poorer country's soil,
with every product bought, made by a political prisoner,
with every homeless person,
with every starving despairing child.
Oh, innocence never dies at once, only delusion does.
Patriotism has been used time and time again in order to defend American acts of inhumanity and injustice.
In the poem above, Baumberger includes many of the injustices and inhumane acts committed by Americans.
Baumberger's poem is illuminating to the fact that the innocence we once held as a nation has disappeared, and we are delusional to believe we still have it.