Onions and Eagles "Indigo: Patriotism"

"Breathes there a man so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land."
Sir Walter Scott


Patriotism is fidelity applied to a sense of place. Our attachment to our place of origin is part of what makes up our sense of who we are, that fragile sense of Self that starts our pathway to brain maturation, and the ability to think as an adult. It is the place that our parents chose to raise their children, and even if an unconscious decision, or seemingly random, the place imbues the child with certain characteristics.

As we broaden our minds, then our sense of place also broadens, and yet, deep in us is that starting point as well. If we get in touch with our heart, then we will find that place. My aunt, who passed away peacefully this year, came back to Montana and visited all the places of her childhood, and high school years, and said goodbye to all of them.

I have found that since I decided to do my genetics residency, that I have been revisiting places of the past, people of my past. I will soon be heading to the region of our ranch when I was a child. I haven't lived in this area since I was 13. I am so looking forward to being there, and listening to the wind whistle around the corners of the house like I used to at the ranch.

Most of us Americans think of the military when we say patriotism. It conjures up images of Minutemen, and the Fathers and Mothers of our nation. Our flag, the eagle, uniforms, and bugles. I think of red poppies--that I used to help my mother sell for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Chapter to which my parents belonged. Dad served as a navigator in World War II. Honor--by serving our country we create honor. We have to be careful to keep it in honor of others, and not ourselves. It is easy to get caught up in our honor being about ourselves--that is the way of narcissism. Patriotism must have a sense of humility or it becomes too prideful and that, as the aphorism goes, goeth before a fall.

Accept your roots, you are disconnected from your soul unless you do. Although lots of rhizomes help stabilize a plant, a good root system is essential for how high you can grow. Nourish them, fertilize them, learn them, sometimes we even digest them. Our parents plant them for us, it is up to us to learn to care for them. Only then can we be the eagles that we are.