Pride, shame . ..

by shamatha

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2003-03-19 15:06:00

Parent message is 406585
what are they? Pride can lead to moral blindness, shame can lead to overcompensation out of guilt.
I am glad to be from the country that originated the Bill of Rights, though I am also aware that this same country, as an Englishman named Thomas Day once wrote, that
“sign(ed) declarations of independence with one hand, and with the other brandish(ed) a whip over his affrighted slaves.”
Anyone, any country, is capable of great wrongs and great rights. I believe these are dark days for America, but th3 40s were dark times for the entire world, and it was out of those ashes, if only for a brief moment, that the 60s sprung.
To feel too much pride or too much shame over something as ephemeral and artificial as ‘nationality’ is just dumb. It’s what get’s us into these damn problems in the first place.