Transcript
Hey everyone welcome to another dailyjim it is Monday 27 June 2000 2, and the week has started again, if you believe that the week starts on monday, some people believe sunday, um, today I wanted to talk about our relationship to our countries.
Yesterday I went to an event in my town. Um, it was a dedication of a new memorial for firefighters who have perished, who have died in our city. And there used to be a memorial where they would plant trees for each person who had died and they've switched over to having granite stones with their names engraved on them. So I really, really appreciate the memorial. I think it's beautiful. I think it, as they mentioned, is going to last a little bit longer, require less maintenance, easier for people to pay respects and remember. And before the ceremony they came out and they had, I think it's called the Color Guard. They came out and put up the flags and Honor guard, oh goodness Honor guard and came up and they put up flags. And then they had a band come out that was playing Scottish bagpipes, played um, I think Scottish bagpipes, bagpipes could be butchered everything today. Anyways, they came out and played the bagpipes and played some, some tunes on there. And then after they raised the flags, there was one person who played the national anthem, star spangled banner on a trumpet and I found myself brought to tears. And didn't really know why.
And then today I was watching Detroit has this annual fireworks celebration they do and they broadcast on television and I was watching that as well. And when the lady got up and sang the Canadian national anthem and then the american national anthem, because the fireworks happen in the Detroit river in between Detroit and Canada us and Canada, when she was singing the american national anthem again, I had tears in my eyes actually, I know I was crying, I was crying this time for sure. And it just got me thinking about, maybe there's a lot of pain that I'm feeling when it comes to our country right now to my country rather because many people listening may not be americans and, I think sometimes these things can really escape my attention and then maybe your attention as well just kind of deep.
And a deep under toe of emotion that we're not necessarily realizing is happening.
So I didn't expect to listen to these national anthem, the playing of the national anthem this time and be brought to tears. It kind of came out of nowhere for me. But when I think about it, it's been it's been a rough couple of years. There's been a lot going on politically and socially and just a lot of pain that I felt in terms of relationships with other americans.
Just trying to contrast it to how I felt in the past. There are other times when they played the national anthem and I felt quite honestly a level of disgust or kind of boredom. Maybe your indifference.
There are other times when I felt incredibly proud and grateful and united and just supported.
So today is really just about reflecting on how my relationship to my country can change over time. And I imagine it's similar for you, no matter which country in the world you are when you hear your national anthem or when you see your flag or when you see something that represents that country to you, you may feel one thing today and a different thing tomorrow and a different thing in in a week or five years from now and then it may come back to a similar feeling.
It reminds me of something I believe I'm gonna butcher this quote as well. There's something I believe Maya Angelou is saying is that she can get very angry at her country, but it's still her country.
Brought me to tears for a person who doesn't often believe in.
Okay, who believes and wants to care about humanity and doesn't want to have ultimate loyalty to one country, but to humanity, it still hits me really hard when I think about just what we've been able to accomplish in this country and how grateful I am to have been born and raised here and and to continue to be here, whether I'm here physically or just here, kind of emotionally, so hm.
I don't know what else to say, So I'll end it there and look forward to talking with you all tomorrow. Bye.
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