Nick Arnett wrote:
>
> Any idea where Twain wrote that? I'm related to him and so I've made an
> effort over the years to become familiar with everything he's written --
> quite a task.
>
http://www.twainquotes.com/Patriotism.html
Ain't the internet grand? 8^)
I love this (from that page)
"A man can be a Christian or a patriot, but he can't legally be a
Christian and a patriot--except in the usual way: one of the two
with the mouth, the other with the heart. The spirit of Christianity
proclaims the brotherhood of the race and the meaning of that strong
word has not been left to guesswork, but made tremendously definite-
the Christian must forgive his brother man all crimes he can imagine
and commit, and all insults he can conceive and utter- forgive these
injuries how many times?--seventy times seven--another way of saying
there shall be no limit to this forgiveness. That is the spirit and
the law of Christianity. Well--Patriotism has its laws. And it also
is a perfectly definite one, there are not vaguenesses about it. It
commands that the brother over the border shall be sharply watched
and brought to book every time he does us a hurt or offends us with
an insult. Word it as softly as you please, the spirit of patriotism
is the spirit of the dog and wolf. The moment there is a
misunderstanding about a boundary line or a hamper of fish or some
other squalid matter, see patriotism rise, and hear him split the
universe with is war-whoop. The spirit of patriotism being in its
nature jealous and selfish, is just in man's line, it comes natural
to him- he can live up to all its requirements to the letter; but
the spirit of Christianity is not in its entirety possible to him.
The prayers concealed in what I have been saying is, not that
patriotism should cease and not that the talk about universal
brotherhood should cease, but that the incongruous firm be dissolved
and each limb of it be required to transact business by itself, for
the future."
--
Doug
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.zo.com/~brighto
"Now people stand themselves next to the righteous
And they believe the things they say are true
They speak in terms of what divides us
To justify the violence they do"
Jackson Browne, It Is One
