A CALL TO ACTION BY CINDY SHEEHAN

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Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:55:03 -0500

ranger116

A call to Action by Cindy Sheehan Much as I wish I

could take cr

 

A call to Action by Cindy Sheehan

 

Much as I wish I could take credit for the word " matriotism, "

another woman wrote to me and gave me the concept. I was so intrigued

by

the word that I have been meditating on the possible ideology behind

it,

and a new paradigm for true and lasting peace in the world.

Before I dive into the concept of Matriotism, let's explore the

word " patriotism. " Dictionary.com defines it as: love of country and

willingness to sacrifice for it. When we all know that patriotism in

the

US means: exploiting others' love for country by sending them and

their

children off to sacrifice for my bank balance!

There have been volumes written about patriotism, defining it,

supporting it, challenging the notion of it, etc. I believe the notion

of patriotism has been expediently and nefariously exploited, and used

to lead our nation into scores of disastrous and needless wars. The

idea

of patriotism has virtually wiped out entire generations of our

precious

young people and has allowed our nation's leaders to commit mass

murder

on an unprecedented scale. The vile sputum of " if you aren't with us,

then you are against us " is basically the epitome of patriotism gone

wild. After the tragedy of 9/11 we were on our way to becoming a

fledgling Matriotic society until our leaders jumped on the bandwagon

of

inappropriate and misguided vengeance to send our young people to die

and kill in two countries that were no threat to the USA or to our way

of life. The neocons exploited patriotism to fulfill their goals of

imperialism and plunder.

This sort of patriotism begins when we enter kindergarten and learn

the

nationalist " Pledge of Allegiance. " It transcends all sense when we

are

taught the " Star Spangled Banner, " a hymn to war. In our history

classes

the genocide of the Native American peoples is glossed over as we

learn

about the spread of American Imperialism over our continent, though it

wasn't named until the 1840's, when the doctrine of Manifest Destiny

was

expounded to justify the USA's conquest of and " civilizing " of Mexican

territories and Native American populations. Manifest Destiny sought

to

spread the " the boundaries of freedom " to the American Continent, with

the notion that we have a special mission from God. Sound familiar?

All through school, we are brainwashed into believing that some how

our

leaders are always right and certainly have our best interests at

heart

when they wave the flag and convince us to hate fellow human beings

who

stand in the way of making immense profits from war. As Samuel Johnson

said, patriotism is the " last refuge of a scoundrel. "

Matriotism is the opposite of patriotism…not to destroy it, but to be

a yin to its yang, and balance out the militarism of patriotism.

Not everyone is a mother, but there is one universal truth that no one

can dispute no matter how hard they try (and believe me, some will

try):

Everyone has a mother! Mothers give life, and if the child is lucky,

mothers nurture life. And if a man has had a nurturing mother he will

already have a base of Matriotism.

A Matriot loves his/her country but does not buy into the exploitive

phrase of " My country right or wrong. " (As Chesterton said, that's

like

saying, " My mother, drunk or sober. " ) A Matriot knows that her country

can do a lot of things right, especially when the government is not

involved. For example, I know of no other citizens of any country who

are more personally generous than those of America. However, a Matriot

also knows that when her country is wrong, it can be responsible for

murdering thouands upon thousands of innocent and unsuspecting

humans. A

true Matriot would never drop an atomic bomb or bombs filled with

white

phosphorous, carpet bomb cities and villages, or control drones from

thousands of miles away to kill innocent men, women and children.

There is one most important thing that matriots would never do,

however,

and this is the key to stopping killing to solve problems: a matriot

would never send her child or another mother's child to fight nonsense

wars…and would march into a war herself that she considered just to

protect her child from harm. Aha! Matriots would fight their own

battles, but take a dim view of having to do so, and would seldom

resort

to violence to solve conflict! Patriots cowardly hide behind the flag

and eagerly send young people to die to fill their own pocketbooks.

Women flocked to Camp Casey in August to run the huge enterprise and

work for peace, and women from all over the US and the world have

invited me to visit and speak and advocate for true and lasting peace.

Men, who are in touch with the matriot inside of them, have also been

important to the cause of eradicating war.

Whether you are a male or female Matriot, Code Pink Alert, endorsed by

Gold Star Families for Peace, is calling for an International Day of

Peace on March 8 th…called for, organized by, and supported by women.

Women and men with matriotic tendencies can get more info and endorse

the call for peace at: www.womensaynotowar.org. It is past time for we

Matriots to get together to stridently call for an end to the immoral

bloodshed in Iraq.

I know one thing from the bottom of my heart. My son, Casey, who was

an

Eagle Scout and a true American patriot, was not served well by his

idea

of patriotism. I will never forgive myself for not trying to

counteract

more the false patriotism he was raised on, with a true sense of

Matriotism.

I also know that the women of the world who don't have a voice, such

as

the mothers of Iraq who are struggling just to survive in their

needlessly destroyed country, are counting on us women who do have

voices to use them to end George Bush's manifestly idiotic doctrine of

preemptive wars of aggression based on the justification that " I think

that country might be dangerous to me and my pals. "

War will end forever when we matriots stand up and say: " No, I am not

giving my child to the fake patriotism of the war machine which chews

up

my flesh and blood to spit out obscene profits. "

" It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but

rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one

country

and mankind its citizens. " ~Baha'u'llah

Matriotism above all is a commitment to truth and to celebrate the

dignity of all life.