Today, I saw an interesting post on Facebook on a new symbolic design that was just published, a new Flag of the Earth (http://www.flagofplanetearth.com). It got me to thinking a lot about what it means to be a citizen - of your locality, your state, your nation - and of your planet.
I am writing this note on Memorial day, 2015. Thirty years ago, today, my wife Gwyn and I met on a rock climbing trip to Devils Lake Wisconsin. It's been three pretty amazing decades. For many of those years, Gwyn has been in the US Naval Reserve. While I have personally never served in the military, I have the utmost respect for those who do/have. I had the wonderful timing of turning 18 just after the Vietnam conflict ended and they ended the draft. I pursued my own career blissfully ignoring that timing. It wasn't until quite a few years later, meeting and later marrying a service person and veteran, that I got to thinking about all of this. What does it mean? What are the costs? What are the consequences?
The point was driven home for me a few years after we married, when her unit got activated for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Although the war ended before their unit actually left, I could see the preparations and the emotional trials that each serviceperson goes through. Then, a few years later, we were back in Iraq and Afghanistan and today we see this in so many as they prepare to leave for - well, for wherever. While I will leave the politics of the wisdom of any given choice out of this discussion, it did again drive home the reality of what Memorial Day is all about.
Several years in a row, Gwyn and I travelled to the Black Hills over Memorial Day. I have always found the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore a moving event. At the end of the ceremony, they invite the present and veteran members of the armed forces down to the stage to participate in the lowering of the flag and last year, Gwyn participated. It brought tears to my eyes to see her acknowledge the time and effort she put in to the service of our country.
One of the things I have noted each time we have gone to the ceremony, the narration has talked about the responsibilities and rights of citizenship at each level - up through the national level. But they left out what I believe will one day be the most important level - the World.
At the same time, I have often asked myself, "Craig, where did you serve?" and my answer was that I have served that World. The last few years especially, I have found this idea increasingly meaningful. As I have become involved in my own work with MUFON, the idea has become ever more real - humanity is not alone in the Universe. And that not-alone-ness might be just be visiting us now.
After working as a healer and a researcher for nearly 20 years now, it has become ever more apparent that the boundaries of nations are fading. As the trend from local/tribal allegiances, to small states, to nations continues, we will one day find ourselves as part of one greater entity - Earth. I believe that time is arriving.
I looked up on WikiPedia, some notes on previous attempts to create a Flag of Earth (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Earth). One that I found most attractive, was the Flag of the Earth, flown by the SETI community. (not sure if they still do). So when I read about the idea of an Earth flag once more, I was really intrigued.
We are now on the threshold of venturing full-force into space. There will be national ventures, international ventures and now private ventures into the cosmos. The first serious, permanent presences will be space stations, the moon and Mars. So the question arises, will we go as Chinese, Americans, Europeans, Russians, etc...? Or will we go as Humans from Earth?
When I hear astronauts talk, one of their biggest and most immediate, impressions is that you don't see borders. Many describe how they begin to see the entire world as one delicate system, and everyone and everything that lives within it is part of that system. There are no nations or borders, except in the minds of humans.
Similarly, as I work with many who have experienced contact with what might be visitors from "Out There" (whoever or whatever this phenomenon is), I begin to see even more how the time in which national identities are foremost may finally be passing. Many experiencers describe the same feeling as those of astronauts - that the Earth is fundamentally one, and borders are artificial. Perhaps we need to begin moving toward that unity in our own thoughts - and even in our flags and allegiances.
One day, I suspect this transition will happen. We will have many disagreements, struggles and yes, even wars in the mean time as this change takes place. People will disagree on how that gradual unification will come about (or even whether it should). We may have false starts and setbacks. But in the end, as we venture out into space, and/or meet those who may have come here from elsewhere, I believe we will eventually transform the patriotic pride in a great nation into a new focus - that of being part of a great world with a Flag of Earth.
