Originally published: 1/16/2009
I’m standing by this one.
When the Twin Towers fell, the citizens of the United States of America felt a distinct camaraderie. The flag—the national garment—that had been tattered and torn in its decent from the top of one of the two tallest buildings in Manhattan, was raised and the rally around it began. I wondered then as I do now: why that flag? I mean, why not the flag of New York City or New York State? On First Avenue, the colors of every nation fly, so why not the flag of the United Nations? Certainly, people of many nationalities died that day.The strike may have been intended to hit U.S. targets, but in these days of globalization, it is easily argued that it was an attack on the entire western world as much as it was on America.
On September 12, the Paris newspaper Le Monde printed,‘We’re all Americans now.’With this, the French bridged the Atlantic, as well as the many political divides between the European left and the rapidly right moving, twenty-first century America.The way they showed their deep concern for the horrors of that day, was by taking on the mantle of our national identity. In the end, innocents in Afghanistan paid the price for this alignment.They could not claim to be Americans and seek the protections and opportunities that such partnering affords.
When Russia rolled a column of vehicles through a tunnel into a disputed Georgian province, then presidential candidate John McCain stated with artificial meaning, “We are all Georgians now.” In addition to wishing the fears of Americans be rekindled, McCain was also encouraging us to take sides. Choose a flag— an identity. In the end, the apartment blocks burned in South Ossetia and innocents died in the rubble.
I can only speak for myself. I have not been given greater authority than that. What I see in the war-torn regions of the earth today has led me to a different conclusion than I cited above.The burned and tattered garment is not a national flag, but the rent flesh of humanity. I am not a Palestinian; I am not a Chechen; I am not Tibetan, Somali, or a Turkish Kurd. I am none of these, but I hold in common with every one of them that I am human. I choose this identity, which leads me to defend humanity from inhumanity, without regard to nation or creed or religion or race.This human identity leads me to seek peace and labor for a prosperous future in which all of our children rejoice.The time to take sides has passed. It is now time to award human character the qualities it deserves and defend it from dark inclinations.This planet will not rest in peace until it has been declared that we are all, every one of us, humans now.
