Compromises 07/28/11
There is a patterned banner woven in the threads of our nation It's colors bleed into one another into tawdry fabric.
It is worn, tattered and faded. It smells of neglect like a dank cellar.
It all began the compromises ever since man moved westward.
It all began with a manifest destiny of what would become America.
It all began with drops of tears, puddles of blood and pools of carnage.
It all began with one compromise then another, a convoluted treaty, a shake of hands.
Compromises began long ago, even before the six nations of the Indian.
Compromises followed even after the first 13 colonies formed and headed west.
Compromises like 1850, or the Missouri, or the Lousiana ruptured the heartland.
Deaths like the Battle of bad axe should not be forgotten.
The Rio Grande became the center of more war as they moved further west.
Land became divided, great territories cut, and drained of life. The natives sent killed or forced to move away.
Most never realize what territories were once free, or run once by Spain, or Britain originally.
Henry Thoreau said it best in civil disobedience...Somewhere along the way west, humanity lost itself. Somewhere blinded by the glittering of gold, and the whispers of freedom, we sank despicabley low. We lost ourselves to greed of the dream to find ourselves...
So we wave a flag colored red like blood and blue like sadness. Stars fell and landed on the white stripes of surrenders as all the treaties were lies and tricks, and the border lines false, and the bloodshed never ending, the only compromise was that people lost their lives, their dignity, and both sides their souls along the way to fulfill this sinful manifest destiny.