I have put up the first of two parts of an essay read at Chateau Morrisette Winery’s Spoken Word Dinner of May 11. The topic was patriotism–not an area much visited at Fragments. Or isn’t it?
…and so I asked myself–as I walked our forest path near home later that day–what then does it mean to be PATRIOTIC? Am I thankful for the blessings of my FATHERland, my country? Yes, no question, and the more so–I thought as I stepped from rock to rock across the creek–as I have come to discover what is sacred in this very COUNTRY-SIDE, as I gain a richer understanding of the specific geographies of my life, and know by heart the land within these boundaries of home.
My patriotism begins to grow from a physically-specific love and honor to a certain landscape–not from abstract feelings of national self-regard held within borders too vast to comprehend.
As I think was true for our forefathers-my love of Pater Land begins in thankfulness for the abundant providence of MATER Earth, this “gift of good land” that is our blessing and covenant.
I’ll post part two at Nameless Creek tomorrow. Part One
