Happy 4th of July Annoying Uncle and Everyone Else

By Tom Owczarzak

I woke up this morning to fireworks.

And it got me thinking about my complicated relationship with my country. Big national holiday and all that.

I have never been able to fully understand how I feel about it all. Partly because I just learned too much in college that I was not able to ignore. When the image got cracked by knowledge but was never really replaced.

And that made me think of my equally complicated relationship to religion – which feels the same.

I studied religion and philosophy in college. Grad school too. I have read most of the major works of the more prominent religions.

The Big 5 they call it in religious studies. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Those 5 faiths comprise a huge majority of the world population. Obviously, there are countless others.

It’s kind of a fascinating thing – studying religion academically. It’s almost contradictory.

There is a philosopher that is kind of well know that says that religion is, by definition, that area of life where reason fails and faith has to kick in. There is always that point. We simply do not have all the answers and, at some point, we have to just go on faith.

Just based on personal experience I felt that was more or less true. Still do.

Religious experience is not rational – it is specifically an affair of the heart.

So, I worried about applying reason to it. I once asked my thesis advisor if she ever worried about screwing up her own religion. She just gave me a puzzled look.

I have friends and family who have very clearly defined faith and religion. Such and such church or temple. Such and such version of this text.

My religion does not work like that. It is far less defined. Probably because I have found wisdom in so many places outside of the defined spaces. Ivan the carpenter is a drunken master!

I have a religion of one. I kinda think everybody does in the end.

And I am more than happy to share what I believe with anybody who asks. It’s a mélange of Buddhist, Christian, carpenter, potter, Taoist, urban life and 413 things I have yet to discover.

It is a long conversation and a fun one so I ain’t squandering it here. It’s worth at least two beers.

But I kind of think my nationalism as the same. It’s a mélange too. In there is the pride I feel for the homes I built and the people I love and the good things that happen here.

The lives people lead. It happens here. In this nation. How can I not love this place? My family lives here.

So I have a big complicated nationalism of one. I love my country – because it is the home of people I love. That’s why I love other countries as well.

Today is the birthday of my country. Yes, I am owning it – I helped build it – just like you.

It is flawed and loses it’s path almost constantly. It has done some great harm and will again.

It has passed through darkness and emerged into light more times than we can count.

It is a big messy thing that causes me despair at times – just like every relationship in my life that is worth a damn.

It's an annoying uncle that won't stop drinking but is part of my family nonetheless.

Happy 4th of July everybody. I hope you can find your religion in there somewhere today and celebrate the home of the ones you love and anything else that makes up your faith. Preferably with them

 

Tom Owczarzak holds a Masters in Philosophy, a Bachelors in Religious Studies and works as a Licensed Contractor building houses and other things