Flags

  The other day I was teaching a guitar lesson to a young boy and he asked me "what's your religion?" I answered truthfully: I don't have one. He had a difficult time wrapping his head around that, in his world one belongs to a faith, that is what he is being taught so he asked me a few more times. I just gave him the simple true answer I gave above: I don't belong to any religion. No agenda, no need to explain and really, it's a guitar lesson, it would be really inappropriate and distracting to talk about my opinions when he can barely sit still enough to get through a round of "Smoke on the Water".

  I've never belonged to a particular faith. I consider myself spiritual, whatever that means to you, and I do believe in god, I just don't believe in anyone else's version of god. The versions I've been handed by other people, well, they just didn't ring true to me. The plants don't fear the sun or the moon or the rain, so why should I? It's as simple as the air we breathe.

  I've felt this way since I was about this boys age. I think it may be our highest duty to be as skeptical as we can be of another's version of how to live our lives.

  It took another few years for me to stop pledging allegiance to our flag. It was around late middle school. I chose to be silent. I'd stand up but keep the words inside. I was weird enough as a kid and didn't need any more abuse from those who agreed with the act. So I spent the next few years in silence and eventually even stopped putting my hand on my heart. I did go to school with a few kids that liked the idea of being in the military. They really turned me off to the whole matter. They were ready to kill for their country. One fantasized about going back to Vietnam and doing the job right. I learned quickly there was no point in arguing with them, they had swallowed the Coolaid long ago. And I was the freak. Thank god for them, the need to fit in was greatly diminished by the turnoff.

  So why am I writing this today? I watched a bit of the stupid Klan march on the news. I could see their symbol being waved around along with that nasty old German flag, and their salutes and all that other nonsense, then I saw those pretty black, green and red flags too with some folks holding their fist in the air. White Power! Black Power! Ugh..... There is no flag for a guy like me. It dawned on me, all flags are violent ultimately. They say "these are our ideals!" This is our identity. At best the US flag meant to me tolerance and the peculiar idea of freedom (Economic? Religious? Political?) but looking at our actions as a nation from day 1, we've always been at war, we've always had a need to dominate. Oh I'm not saying we don't have great things here, when I watch the world news I'm glad this is where I live. When I watch the US news I'm glad I chose New York City to live in. I am saying I'm not down with our behavior on this world stage. And that behavior is destroying us. I'm not down with self destruction.

  So what do I pledge allegiance to? That is a good question. The only thing I can come up with right now is knowing that ultimately we are all the same. The same matter, the same energy. I pledge allegiance to love and compassion as best as I can. I pledge allegiance to the living truth which has no path, no flag, no ideals, it is alive after all just like the sun, the moon, the trees, the air. I pledge allegiance to being good to one another and knowing that we may never be able to move away from the patterns and propaganda set down in holy books thousands of years ago. I pledge allegiance that I may be the biggest fool of them all by doing my best to question all of it. And maybe that would be my flag? I can dig that. I can't take the fool too seriously.

JB

The News

  On my good days I don't read the news. Sounds odd. Don't I want to be informed about what is happening in this world? No, not really. "Information is power". Really? How?

  The news is everywhere. I can view it on my phone in a coffee shop, or look to the column at the right on my Facebook feed and see what's 'trending'. Or even better, I can see the human horror show right in the center of my Facebook feed through my friends and 'friends' I've never met. It's a drug that is available 24/7 no matter where I am. I get to be reminded of how embarrassing humanity is. People fighting over bits of colored rags we call flags with our silly salutes and all that. People killing over words written by drunk and tripping people thousands of years ago.

  But information it power right? I need to stay informed right? How can I be a good citizen by not participating? Well, like I said on my good days I don't. It dawned on me the other morning that by reading the news, I may be contributing to the horror show. The low is how I get high. It harms me. There is nothing I can do about a person whose mind is warped and manipulated into a pattern deep enough to blow oneself up in a crowded market. There is nothing I can do about a horrible policeman who beat a man or woman to death. If it's in the news it has already happened. I'm well aware already, I don't need to be hit over the head again and again with the horror show. I already have the information. It's on repeat. It happens daily again and again.

  What I can do is just do my best to be a decent human being. Be kind to strangers. Love as much as I can from where I stand right now. Oh it may be futile and maybe I'm totally delusional but hey, the other way hasn't worked out at all. I'd be insane to think things will change by staying glued to the information parade. I do that and I get depressed, cranky, argumentative, righteous and I'm less capable of being kind to the rest of you. In that small 'butterfly flapping it's wings in China' way I've contributed to the violence in this world. That is no way to exist.

  I think it was Mother Theresa who once said she would never attend an anti war rally but if there were a pro peace rally she'd be there. I love that.

J