The fourth of July makes me ashamed.
I’m ashamed of myself because I can’t seem to match the patriotism that surrounds me. In the USA, people get almost spiritual about their fireworks, hot dogs, and freedom worship. Behind all of this, for me, is a whole lot of weirdness.
The whole Independence thing is fine. We fled a plutocratic government to have the ‘freedom’ to worship any god we wanted only to find ourselves in a similarly autocratic system with exceptionally narrow-minded tolerance of ‘others’. What the actual f%^k is up with that?
I’m also ashamed of my country. How can we celebrate such a thing? Beyond the obvious hypocrisy, of course, is the genocide. How are Americans always so blind to the cost of things? Coupled together I end up feeling a whole lotta cognitive dissonance around July 4.
One of these things is not like the other.
Outsider.
Stranger in a strange land.
It’s a common theme I’m sure you can relate to in some way. Maybe not about the fourth, but there must be some situation in your life where you just don’t get what’s going on with everyone else.
For me, that is surrounding the concept of freedom. How can everyone else get this so wrong? (from my perspective)
To me, freedom is the capacity to choose our reaction to any situation we encounter. In a Buddhist, Taoist, or Viktor Frankl kind of way. To be able to understand that I am not a victim of my situation. To have the peace of mind to pause when we encounter an uncomfortable situation. And to remember that this, too, shall pass. And that we cannot control our environment or what happens to us, but we can control our reaction to it.
How can freedom be anything else?
Much more in this Episode: