Why I Am Not A Patriot

When I see the flags waving
I know death is sure to follow
and the rocket's red glare
the bombs bursting in air
I'm told, "patriotism
is a good thing"
love of country and all that. . .

I see in my mind
the old flickering images,
ecstatic proud
Germans waving
those little flags
It felt so good
in those days
after shameful defeat in war
and the weakness and corruption
of Weimar -- it felt so good
to be proud again
to adore god and country blood
and soil to be
strong and united
we stand and
patriotism is a good thing and
they all hate us anyway
so bomb them all and
let god sort 'em out
We're back and we're proud and
Never Again and make America Great
We're number one and
these colors don't run
so wave that flag with pride

But am I still talking
about Germany or
am I talking about
Israel or Ukraine or
our own corporate empire
where misery pools to wealth
and the burning world fuels
our glory? Or
does it matter?
Does it matter?

Is patriotism still
a good thing if
it kills if it
justifies murder?
Mass murder?
If it prohibits asking
even this?

So wave that little flag
harder or better yet
put it down

Now is the time
to stop fanning
hatreds
to stop cheering murder
to dispossess the evil
which threatens us all
to look each other in the eyes
to listen and hear
our common human needs
our common hopes
for the future
if there is to be one
at all

The world, of which we are a part, is a dynamic, living thing, its circulating magma, drifting plates dynamic atmosphere and seas are organs of a living entity. Our position in relation to our star and our rich composition render Earth a Petri dish, or more accurately, a great Uterus, giving birth to life itself in all it's myriad and adapting forms. Very few single life forms can exist on their own and most are dependent on many others just to exist. Life on our small world is symbiosis, each form continuing to exist or dying out based on symbiotic balance and made possible by planetary forces and conditions we are only beginning to understand.

Countries and Nation States are very recent inventions of a particular species of territorial mammal which are us. In the relatively short time "nations" as we know them have existed, the results have been barbaric spreads of violence, mass murder and brutal subjugations. We call these "conquests" and "slavery" and they have lead to cycles of resentments, resistance and more wars with designated "borders" ever changing. Our world is littered with the mass graves and broken ruins that define our history.

As we clever hominids learned to alter the elemental makeup of the world developing technology -- often at the expense of poisoning and despoliation like a disease harming the larger body on which our existence depends. Our wars and our technology can no longer be separated from destructive harm to our great mother or to the symbiotic balance upon which life depends. We've even created and continue to stockpile weapons that could end life on our world. We seem trapped in our cycle of destructive behavior driven by continuing resentments, outdated territorialisms, prejudices and fears. We are led by those who hoard the most of what we produce, who project power -- the Alphas among us who are revered and feared for possessing the most destructive potential. We have developed a system of planetary destruction which oppresses most of us just for food and shelter to further enrich the few -- a system based on competitive growth in a world of finite resources which is the basis of continuing wars for resource hegemony ignoring and destroying in the process the greatest resource of all -- life itself.

And we celebrate this. We wave various symbols and flags for which many would kill and die. We beat our chests with pride and revere our founding alphas even as we are divided and despise each other like soccer fans or turf-conscious gangs as our mutual air, water and food are poisoned, our personal resources always stressed and the fellow creatures on which we depend die off.

Is there a way out of this? Is it too late? I don't know but I believe it must begin by changing our basic concepts. Rejecting widely accepted concepts basic to existing power structures has always been considered blasphemy -- and I am a proud blasphemer rejecting bronze age mysticism, nationalism and hierarchical power based on greed or delusions of control. I understand that such basic concepts, destructive or constructive, are based in and fed by culture. Culture defines how we see the world and ourselves in it. It defines how we see and treat others. This is why I write and why I have published a literary journal the Blue Collar Review, for over 25 years as a way of effecting cultural transformation.

We must as a species, reject blind loyalty to political systems and parties, nation states, and technologies that threatens all life. We must replace loyalty to tribe and nation with love and loyalty to the Earth mother, to each other, and to restoring and protecting the symbiotic balance of all life of which we are part.  Thus, rejecting "patriotism," I am a Matriot and hope to set an example for us to be one big Earth tribe -- not just we humans, but encompassing all living things for our mutual health and preservation.

Patriotism is the ego-centric, hyper-national alliegacne to competitive destruction and death. Matriotism is the worship and loyalty to earth and to life.