Elections and Nationalism

I ran across this poem and it spoke to me during this election year.

My Country Awake
Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Asia's first Nobel laureate and named one of Time Magazine's most influencial Asian's of the 20th centurty, Rabindranath Tagore, was the greatest writer in modern Indian literature, a Bengali poet, novelist, educator, and an early advocate of independence for India. Tagore's influence over Gandhi and the founders of modern India was enormous, but his reputation as a writer and mystic has caused many to ignore his role as a political activist. In fact, one of his songs became the national anthem of India and another the national anthem of Bangladesh.

Tagore's travels lead him to write of the folly of borders and patriotism. He stressed the need for new world order based on cross-cultural values and ideas, the "unity consciousness." His ideal was the Universal Man. Tagore warned of the dangers of nationalistic thought. "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity," he wrote.

In this U.S. election year, let us dream of a country where we are without fear and united, not with ourselves, but with the rest of world. Let us strive for unity and hope for Peace.

Let our minds be free to the possibilities of what should be and not what might happen. And with open hearts and minds, let our country awake to a new day.