I am staring at a globe that is older than I am
It still says that the USSR is a country
and that Croatia is not
It says that Hong Kong is not part of China
and Myanmar’s name is Burma
I am staring at a map that is younger than I am
It says that there is no such thing as South Sudan
This globe and this map
with all their pretty colors
with all their squiggly lines
with all their funny names
do not tell the stories of the people
who live in their pretty colored nations
who live in between their squiggly lines
who live in their funny named cities.
This globe, this map, and even I
tell different stories about this
sphere sprinting across the galaxy
at 67, 000 mph
along with the other one hundred billion
other planets in the Milky Way.
This globe is from 1990
This map is from 2010
some of its recorded history I’ve lived through
most of it I have not
I did not live through the “discovering” of the New World
I did not live through the “conquering” of the West
I did not live through the “civilizing” of the Lost Continent
But I am living now
I do not yet have the priviledge to own a piece of paper
that says that I own some squiggly, colorful piece of land
But I do live in a squiggly, colorful land that says
that I have the right to
These squiggles and colors give us identity
give us unity
give us heritage
A nationality
A citizenship
A people
Yet they give us war
give us quarrels
give us anxiety
give us hatred
give us discrimination
These lines on maps and hearts
tell us differences
but it is up to us
if we choose
to celebrate or
to condem
those differences.
***
Those changes in our maps
tell us more than just geography
more than just history
they tell us why we fought
and why we fight.
***
I want to live in a nation
where those squiggly, colorful lines mean something
where they stand for something
something I stand for and stand with
I want to live in a world
where those squiggly, colorful lines
do not divide us
but create in us something greater than
we could have ever imagined separately
I want to live as an individual
unified with my town
unified with my county
unified with my state
unified with my nation
unified with my world
resting securely in the palm of the Lord Almighty
Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Because sometimes to get things done
you have to color outside the lines
even the squiggly, colorful ones
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