THOMAS PAINE’S CORNER |•

by Mankh (Walter E. Harris III)

6/2/07

I am a citizen of the world, my countrymen all mankind.
–Thomas Paine

With, without.
And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?

— Pink Floyd “Us and Them”

Imagine there’s no countries…

— John Lennon “Imagine”

Imagine the image of Earth stitched onto a corner of every national flag.

Not quite what John Lennon sang to us to do but it is a start. One World flags would help us to remember our connection with the world as a whole. And anything nasty done by a nation — wherever they might raise their flag as a symbol of having unjustly dominated, conquered, or enslaved another people, or polluted a river or terrain — would at least be under the ‘eye’ of the Earth, and somewhere on the nation’s One World conscience.

“Think global, act local” certainly has its merits, yet it is high time we also learn better to “think global, interact wisely”!

Business is the sacred international cow. People travel almost anywhere ‘to do business’ (legitimate or otherwise), but when it comes to cultural exchanges of a more personal level, the red flags often go up too quickly.

When a musician or professor cannot enter a country due to the content of his songs or lectures, a border becomes a wall. Yet, from the bird’s-eye view, nations are illusory borders, man-made lines drawn in the sand. No land mass can rule except by rulers. Then again, a mountain or an ocean may afford the best protection that money can’t buy (except when it comes to foreign companies managing ports). The root of the word foreign, from the Latin, is “out of doors, outside” (as in, public “forum”), and I presume that originally it simply meant to show how EVERYONE GATHERED TOGETHER, before the lines in the sand turned so-called foreigners into “those weird untidy people with the odd customs and strange hairdos”.

The little bottle of apple juice I recently bought at the local bagel shop had the following on the label, in tiny print: made from “concentrates from Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, Turkey, Brazil, China & U.S.” How do you like them apples? Rather, how do like them One Earth apples? Whether you bother to check the humanitarian records of each apple producing country, or are simply thirsty and glad to support the pickers, is your business. This particular little juice was from a big name company. When I’m purchasing a large bottle for home I certainly prefer local apples, whether they are from down the road or across the country.

All this does not mean that cultural and national identities need be avoided. On the contrary, they are to be celebrated yet kept in perspective. Perhaps another reminder catchphrase could be: “Celebrate diversity, respect Unity” or “Respect diversity, celebrate Unity”. Each nation has its gifts, its foods and drinks, music, and so forth. I love Mexican food and Italian food, to name a few, and celebrate the food-making aspect of those cultures by sampling their cuisines.

To prove that we as a species naturally identify with the bigger picture, ask anyone “where are you from?”, and I bet they will answer by naming a town, city, or country; you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who answers “1 Crabgrass Lane“. On the other hand, indigenous and tribal peoples would probably identify a specific element of nature (”the sacred mountains”, “the emerald forest”), or the Earth, or the cosmos in toto, while gypsies and nomads might answer, “Everywhere!”

All of this goes to show that: while people personally and very locally identify with their home and immediate surroundings, when it comes to the overview, they connect with the Gestalt, the people en masse, la gente… and mountains and trees are people too, according to those who really live among them.

In the athletic world, golf has become an international sport and there are many European and other worldwide golfers now living, and predominantly playing, in the U.S., yet they officially represent their country of birth. Is this a lifelong badge we all wear in some form or another? I consider myself a Turtle Islander, Turtle Island being another name for Earth and originating from the so-called mythical land portrayed in the origin-stories of American Indians, Hindus, Australian aborigines, the Chinese, and probably more. Technically though, having been born ‘here’, I’m an American and I’ve never called myself a German-Russian-American although that would more appropriately honor my roots. Nowadays African-American and Asian-American have become popular nomenclatures for retaining one’s identity, but are there any Australian-Americans, Eastern-Bloc-Americans, South-Pacific-Island-Americans… and what of Native, North, South, Central and Latin? These labels (not to mention the hyphens) can boggle the mind!

Tibetans, one of the most peaceful peoples on this planet, are well-known for their prayer-flags whose bright colors not only look lovely but also serve to send prayers and good wishes into the air, scattered to the four winds for whoever (especially deities) has ears to hear. Whether or not you believe or have ever experienced how that works, it is certainly less problematic than air-pollution.

At the United Nations, at the Olympics, a major golf tournament like the British or U.S. Open, and many other sites and events– imagine One Earth Flags, One World Consciousness, Global Getting Along Real Well.

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Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is a poet, essayist and small press publisher.

His books include Singing an Epic of Peace and Haiku One Breaths.

His literary website: www.allbook-books.com