It is nothing but madness that at this late date the way we think and feel is increasingly placing our planet and us at risk. We desperately need to improve every part of our lives that holds us on our insane path. A significant yet simple way to help achieve this goal is to replace our national anthem with a song that plugs our consciousness into powers that enable us to create and enjoy greater balance, sanity and dignity.
Dear President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama,
We the undersigned respectfully request that to increase peace, unity and sanity for all, the national anthem of the United States of America be changed from the present anthem. We ask that you help the song "This Land is Your Land" become the new national anthem with its words being modified to "This land IS PART OF you and me" instead of "This land is made for you and me," wherever these words appear in the first four verses of the song and its chorus.
We make this request for critical reasons:
1. Because we inherently sense as well as culturally learn that "the land" is vital for human life and survival, the strife of political, personal and spiritual divisions continually occurs over who the land belongs to and whose lives it should support. An underlying premise of these disagreements is that the land was made for the life of humanity rather than it being a cooperative, mutually beneficial, community of nature's web-of-life plant, animal, mineral and energy kingdoms, including humanity.
2. Too often we overlook that the land is the web-of-life and that it has a universal integrity and spirit of its own that all its members inherit and enjoy, no matter their kingdom, shape, size, or species. This integrity includes and is part of humanity.
3. We have found that singing "This land is PART OF you and me" brings to mind the unifying, "for the good of all" essence of the land and its vitality, in and around us. The passion of this discovery in the song draws us together in new and lasting ways. It helps us replace the detrimental parts of our socialization that teach us to feel separate from what we genetically and spiritually hold in common with each other and our planet.
We further request that the United States of America ask other countries of the world to adapt the words of the song to accommodate their beloved landscapes. This will help the purifying and balancing powers of the land to bring us together in a good way.
We submit this petition in honor of WoodyGutherie who wrote the song's words and who sensed it was appropriate to borrow its tune from a Carter Family hymn about the Rock of Ages embracing us.
