Well, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and after attending some of the various speakers that Mount Union had on campus, I got to thinking about him and what he did.
Martin Luther King Jr. died for what he believed in. So did Malcolm X. So did Nathan Hale, excuted by the British during the American Revolution, but not before uttering from the gallows the now famous line, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” This line, upon research, was inspired from the play Cato by Joseph Addison. The line from the play reads “How beautiful is death, when earn’d by virtue! / Who would not be that youth? What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country.”
How beautiful is death, when earn’d by virtue.
All of this got me to thinking. These men are famous because they died for something. They died, whether by execution or assassination, for causes which they believed in so passionately that they were prepared to give their lives for them. And here I am, 21 years old, and I don’t really feel like I have anything I’m willing to die for. Maybe that’s good, and maybe that’s tragic… I don’t really know.
I guess that the underlying problem here is that I think that I would be willing to fight and die for America’s ideals – the principles and ideas upon which this country was founded. The principles of freedom and liberty. The principle of opportunity. The principle that anyone can start with nothing and make something out of it. Can make a life. Can make a family. Can make a fortune, if that’s what they want. Unfortunately, I think that we’ve gotten too far from those ideals.
I love my country, and I am proud to be an American, but not in that redneck-country music-gun toting-warmongering-put 10 flags in front of my house kind of way. I’m proud to be an American because of what America is supposed to stand for. I’m proud to be an American in a “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” kind of way. I’m proud to be an American in a “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” kind of way. And I’m proud to be an American in a “Give me liberty or give me death” kind of way.
So what happened here? Looking back on these words, the current state of things is fucking depressing. I do love my country, but I’m not completely sure that I’m ready and willing to die for it as it is. I don’t want to die for a country where the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer and the middle class doesn’t give enough shits to do anything about it. I don’t want to die for a country where people are all too willing to defend their own stupid freakin’ rights while at the same time being all too willing to take them away from others. I don’t want to die for a country where the government primarily serves itself, rather than the people who depend on it for their opportunity.
I guess the point of all of this is that I want to live in a country where I love it so much that I am willing to fight and die for it.
One of the most oft-quoted lines from Ghandi is that “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” and I used to believe so passionately that one person – any person – could be and make that kind of change. But I’m not so sure anymore. Martin Luther King Jr. certainly did it. Can I?
I like to believe so.
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2 comments:
Instead of a country to love, I'll give you a room, and I'll give you unequal rights, hit you like a pimp hits a ho holding out money, and make you use the "Ricci" (pronounced Richie) water fountains which would probably be filled with something disgusting everday. I'd also make you sit at the back of the couch when you watch TV. Don't ask how, it'll be done. If you want to die for something you love keep writing passionatly, as writing is your passion.
What I'm saying is we're all given different talents for different reasons and they had callings to change the world. You need to challenge yourself to constantly do what you love, live what you love, be what you love, and defend what you love to the death if need be. That's how we all can be as paramount as our idols. Take satisfaction in your love while never being truly satisfied, it's the catch 22 that binds you to it.
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