I wrote this last year. Still applies this year and every year after… I know there are some that may not believe me when I say that I LOVE MY COUNTRY. In contrast, I know there are some that will argue there is nothing to love about it. I turn to my right and the fascists will ask, “How can you say you love this country with all of your complaints and all of the issues you constantly point out and cry about?” While on my left, another will cynically ask in disgust, “What’s to love about this ‘great’ nation with all of its problems and constant unrest?” I am an American. A proud Chicana, born of Mexican parents, born and raised on American soil, in the sparkling city by the sea American! Fed a constant stream of “Siempre en Domingo con Raul Velasco” and MTV with Martha Quinn and Mark Goodman. I am an American through and through with a Chicana twist and a whole lot of Mexican flavor, whether some believe it, like it, or care to acknowledge it. I am de dos mundos. Proud and undeniably so! Living in duality is something I, like many, have done since the day we were born. So being able to criticize AND love my country is just another form of duality to add to my existence. This country is filled with beautiful, hardworking, kind, caring, compassionate people that are my friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and some I don’t even know personally. It is filled with and made of good people that were born here, that immigrated here and emigrated here and it’s because of all of them that make this country why I love it. I live here. I’ve made a home here and I am trying my damnedest to make it a better place for my kids and their kids. It’s BECAUSE I love my country that I can acknowledge there is an abundance of problems and issues we need to make right. It’s BECAUSE I love my country that I can look at it and acknowledge its flaws in hopes to fix them, change them, grow from them, and heal from them to come to something new and so much more improved. I wouldn’t be fighting so damn hard to find, face, and fix those issues if I didn’t love my country. It’s BECAUSE I love my country that I refuse to let it be run by the few that care more for the green lining of their pockets than for its people. It’s BECAUSE I love my country that I refuse to let the few in power that are a strain on it and its democracy and those that have been emboldened to crawl out from their dwellings of hate, be a representation of it. I wholeheartedly acknowledge I come from and live in a very privileged bubble that allows me to feel and know that love for my country. I realize right now in the era of #45 (for some it has been much longer than just now) it is hard to celebrate it, acknowledge it’s good, and may feel more disconnected and shackled than any form of love and freedom. With years of oppression and unjust systems and policies in place, with little to no progress, while too many die without reason, how can one memorialize that which binds them and kills them? I understand it wholly. I not only see you but empathize with you and your pain, your rage, and unrest. Yes, there is no doubt, it is a nation with flaws, with open festering wounds, and deep-rooted issues that need healing, improving, and radical, nerve-shocking to the core changing. Know that there are many of us who are fighting today’s revolution with you and for you. This 4th of July isn’t one for carefree celebrations for some for so many reasons. However, I do still celebrate it. Like any other day, I celebrate and love my country today, on its national holiday, like the radical act of defiance and rebellion that was the nation’s independence — by fighting to improve her every day. I love my country.
I hate it’s imperfections. I appreciate its goodness. I condemn its flaws. I love my country infinitely and critically while working to improving it. I love my country.
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Between the World and Women by Z. Bayardo |
Z on writing and chismeI love reading and do it often. I love writing but don't do it as often as I should. Chisme of the pastCurrent chisme |