“Asking the World’s Forgiveness”
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1, 2006
Rev. Howard N. Dana
If someone we loved acted as destructively as our nation acts, we would hold a family
intervention with him or her. If someone we loved were as addicted to alcohol as our nation is
addicted to oil, we would go to Alcoholics Anonymous with him or her. If someone we loved
stockpiled as many weapons as our nation stockpiles, we would insist he or she get therapy. And
if someone we loved were as big a bully as our nation is, we would do whatever we could to stop
the bullying behavior. Much of the rest of the world sees the United States as a destructive,
alcoholic, bully with guns. But you and I are the United States. We are not like this. And we
care about our country. I only hope we care enough to get it the help it needs.
Don’t worry that this will be an America-bashing sermon. I do not hate my country. In fact I
love it so much that my own patriotism scares me a bit. It is impossible for me to sing “The Star
Spangled Banner” without crying. And forget about “America the Beautiful” or “My Country
'Tis of Thee”—I’m a teary mess by the end of the song. I am the first person in the stadium with
his hand over his heart. I am the last to sit down after the national anthem to enjoy the game. It
distresses me deeply to see how little regard the leaders of our nation have for our standing in the
world community. It fills me with sadness and anger to hear of our shameful way of treating
other nations. I consider myself a deeply patriotic person. And I believe a true patriot sees
through the jingoism of knee-jerk chauvenism. A true patriot questions national leaders. He or
she takes citizenship seriously.
At a recent dinner I was seated next to an African American man and his wife who had recently
retired and were looking to travel more in their free time. The conversation turned to my recent
trip to Peru. Both had questions about travel there—what was the geography like? The food?
The customs? But one of the man’s questions stumped me. He wanted to know how dangerous
it is in Peru. With a quizzical look on my face I asked him what he meant. “Are we safe there,”
he asked? “Do they treat us badly because we are Americans?” I am sure I blanched. He was
asking about anti-American sentiment abroad. He wanted to know if people hated our country
enough to treat its tourists badly. What a turning of the tables that would be! What a sense of
“Old Testament” style justice—and eye of and eye, a tooth for a tooth! From our mistreatment
of others some assume that they would mistreat us in turn. And herein lies our folly. We
Americans truly think everything is “all about us.”
In all my travels abroad, I have never met anyone who equated me with my government. Never
have I encounter anyone who could not see the difference between US foreign policy and who I
am as a person. Of course people want to talk to me about the United States. They want answers
to very complicated questions. But they do not treat me any differently based on my nationality.
When did fear and narcissism kill our ability to see another person as just that—a person? When
did greed and control keep us from engaging person-to-person with other citizens of the world?
When did safety become our chief concern about traveling abroad? We live in one of the most
violent societies on earth and yet we fear foreign travel. We live in one of the most multi-
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cultural countries on earth and yet we fear difference. Goodness, America needs therapy—and
lots of it!
Beyond therapy, America need humility. It needs to recognize its destructive, alcoholic, bullying
behavior and ask the world’s forgiveness. It needs to repent, not for the sake of the world, but
for the sake of itself. The United States can never be whole unless it asks for forgiveness. It can
never know true kindness until it shows kindness itself. In this regard, I am not talking about
giving up on our foreign policy. Over our country’s history we have played an enormous part in
setting the world up the way it is. We have a responsibility to other nations that simply cannot
be abandoned. Even in this horrible, senseless, greedy war we are fighting we have a
responsibility not just to walk out on the awful mess. No, the war in Iraq is not about
democracy. Yes, it is about oil and power. And, no, we will not win this war. We had
absolutely no right going to war in Iraq in the first place. And we cannot abandon the Iraqi
people after completely destroying their country.
One of my favorite characters on television is Tony from the HBO series, “The Sopranos.” Tony
Soprano heads a New Jersey organized crime family whose main cash cow is waste
management—that’s right, a mobster garbage man. Tony Soprano is a bigoted, bullheaded,
violent, philandering, selfish jerk. He drives a enormous SUV, smokes cigars, drinks scotch,
steals, cheats, lies, gambles, and murders—to name a few of his finer qualities. And he is one of
my favorite characters on television. The brilliance of “The Sopranos” is that Tony Soprano is
also a father and a husband. He can be generous and kind. He outsmarts the FBI all the time.
And he has a deep sense of family loyalty. He acknowledges his strong blood ties to the Italian
American community and is fiercely protective of his family and friends. “The Sopranos” makes
you like Tony and hate what he does. It forces you to be attracted to Tony while at the same
time fearing him. Tony is an unrepentant, brute force in his own little organized crime world.
He is a bully. He is a rage-aholic. He is both sad and infuriating. And, somehow, I wind up
rooting for him. He draws me in and makes me care about him. Though I never want to meet
this character face-to-face, I want Tony’s therapist to help him. I want him to reform his evil
ways. I care about his family and friends. I want Tony Soprano to wake up and realize what he
is doing to himself and to those he loves.
For me, it is no stretch to see the United States as the Tony Soprano of the world—the bloated
bully who gets violent if things don’t go his way. But just as this complex television character
cannot be written off as hopeless, neither can the United States or it citizens. For there is much
good in the United States. I am glad for the blessings that come from being an American. But I
cannot swallow the pigheaded pride that often drowns out a reasonable, cooperative approach to
global citizenship. Our country would be the laughing stock of the world if were not so powerful
and dangerous. Like Tony Soprano, much of what our nation does is reprehensible, absurd, and
comical. But no one who values his life laughs at Tony Soprano—at least not to his face.
As a culturally Christian nation, the United States too often forgets that God loves all the world’s
children equally. In God’s eyes, a poor widow in Afghanistan has the same value as the
president of the United States. A blind Iraqi boy is worth as much as the queen of England.
Even if we take God out of the equation, life is a cruel joke if the accident of person’s birth
makes him or her better than another. Rankings some people as better than others fuel fascism.
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An inequality of persons allows them to be exploited and exterminated. It allows greed and
power to rule. These don’t sound like American values to me. They certainly are not the values
Jesus taught. They are not the values our Jewish brothers and sisters live by.
Sunday/This evening at sundown the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur will start. The most solemn
of the High Holy Days, Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. Sunday night/Tonight at
sundown, Jews the world over will gather in temples and synagogues to pray and think. They
will gather to acknowledge the very real presence of evil and sin in each person’s life. They will
worship and hear the ancient story of forgiveness and reconciliation. They will ask for God’s
grace and mercy. They will unburden themselves of all wrongdoing from the past year. Heads
covered and bowed in prayer, young and old, men and women, black, white, and brown, Jews
will communally honor humanity’s frail nature. In song, chant, and silence they will reflect on
the ways they have fallen short in the last year. And they will vow to move into the year ahead
striving to do better.
What could the United States do to ask the world’s forgiveness? How might we as a nation
atone? One of the most surprising aspect of Al Gore’s film on global climate change was the
way in which he showed how incremental movements now make a big difference in the future—
for good or ill. “An Inconvenient Truth” shows each of us how much of a difference we
Americans might make in reversing disastrous changes through individual and collective actions.
As the world main consumers of resources, we have a greater impact on the globe than any other
nation. Likewise we have the greatest responsibility in return. If our nation could set aside its
xenophobia for a moment, we might see where our priorities have gotten completely out of
whack. Military spending is a good example of America’s complete loss of a sense of
proportion. In 2005 the United States spent 522 billion dollars on its military. China and Russia
came in second and third spending 63 and 62 billion respectively. This means we spent eight
times more money than China and Russia—eight times as much as the second and third most
militarily powerful countries in the world. And we are at war with neither. The shocking
statistic is that we spent 37 times more than all of our enemies combined. If you add the military
spending of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan together it only equals 14 billion
dollars. (Christian Century, September 5, 2006) If military budgets were cars, the United States
would drive a Hummer while all its enemies crowded together onto a scooter. We already know
the outcome of Hummer vs. Scooter. It is ridiculous for us to feel militarily threatened in any
way, shape, or form. If we took even 20 percent of our military budget and reinvested it in
schools, community services, diplomacy, and foreign relief, our status in the world’s eyes would
change within a decade.
How did we go from being the heroes of World War I and World War II to being the Tony
Soprano of the globe? Why did we trade in American good will abroad for the quick high of
cheap oil? How did we get so out of whack? And how can we get back? We will get back the
same way an alcoholic regains his or her sobriety—one day at a time. One election at a time.
One presidency at a time. One corporate board meeting at a time. One purchase at a time. One
gun at a time. One demonstration at a time. One donation at a time. One prayer at a time. One
step at a time—we can and will regain our country. One generation at a time, we can and will
repair our relationship with the rest of the world. We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin
again in love. So be it. Amen
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