Tribes

My days have been quite hectic, and my nights full of dreamless sleep.

I know nothing of the length of my days.  I know nothing of the length of days allotted for my country, and I fear that in my country we are in a stupor where we imagine our days go on forever.

Call me a radical.  It's a badge of honor nowadays.  It seems like one by one, in increasingly rapid succession, our freedoms and values are coming under attack. When I say "our", I'm talking about my tribes.  Tribes is a term I've seen used lately.  I wish we didn't need terms like this, but it seems we do.  Tribes seem to be people whose interests and values we identify with.  People with whom we belong.

I first and foremost am a follower of Jesus Christ.
He has this giant banner over me, a banner of love.  I am His.  I am marked for eternity by him, bought and paid for, under the wings of my great physician and good shepherd.  When you speak of the Christians, you speak of me, even though many Christians do stupid things I'd rather not identify with.

I also identify in part with the Southern Baptists, because of my history, and my growing up years.  I have a soft spot in my heart for them.
But the tribe I flock to more is the liturgical churches.  Lord bless them.  I'll get it sorted out someday.

I am a Texan.
We are different than some of the Southern states, as we were once our own country.  We entered the Union voluntarily as a sovereign nation, and it's written into our constitution that we can leave (not that they'd let us).   I'm all about the Alamo, Sam Houston, Dallas, The Rangers, and the Cowboys.  Yehaww.

I am a Southerner.
I am a Southerner.  I think like a Southerner.  I am the great great granddaughter of a Confederate soldier.  We aren't all "America or die".  We feel like we should maintain some healthy resistance to the federal government.  We don't always trust them.  I think that's okay.  I'm happy with this.  I love the long summer humid nights full of mosquitos, fireflies,and the sound of locusts back home.  I love the drawl I hear when people speak.  Bad grammar and hot headed thinking makes me bristle, but I love the people of the South overall.

I will not apologize for who I am, downplay that I love where I'm from.  I miss it when I'm away.  I'm loyal to my heritage, rebels and all.

I am an American.
America has a great place in the world.  We have been a shining hope and example of liberty to a great many people.  Nothing represents this better than our role in World War Two.  I miss that America.  I fear for us, daily.  We are far too lackadaisical in the comfort of our own freedom.  We won't be around forever, at least not in a recognizable form.

I am a Singer.
I see my life as a connective variety of songs.  I identify with music.  I think about diction and tone.  I have a hard time enjoying church if the music is bad.  I just see life different than those who aren't musical, and it grows increasingly obvious in ways it didn't used to be.  Sound is important to me.

I am a libertarian.
Kinda.  I mean, I am, but I have strong feelings about such things as abortion.  I think people should be free to do what they wish, but it stops at harming another person.  That is the case with abortion.  Killing your own children shouldn't be legal.  I also struggle with things like "gay marriage".  I think it shouldn't be the government's place to legitimize it...but I also think it's morally wrong.  So I think it should be legal, but in a way where the government is out of it completely.  I'm still forming my political beliefs, and politics weary me.


These are just a few tribes that I have.  There are many more.  We all need a place to belong, and people with whom to identify.  What are some of your tribes?

Quote by General Patrick Cleburne, prophet.

If the South lost the War of Between the States:  “It means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy. That our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by all of the influences of History and Education to regard our gallant debt as traitors and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.”