Lately I’ve felt uncomfortable with two symbols of our country: the eagle and the flag. The flag has come to represent patriotism, which often seems, from my perspective, to be blind patriotism.
The bald eagle, America’s national bird and symbol, has come to represent aggression. I see it there on the dollar bill or monuments and cringe at the truth behind it: the strength, grace and courage, yes, but also the arrows in that one talon. Even Benjamin Franklin was not in favor of the bald eagle as national bird (he favored the wild turkey) because of its not-so-gallant ways (lazy, takes prey from other birds who’ve done the work, cowardly, in his opinion). (photo found at http://www.military-graphics.com/)
image found at http://watch.pair.com/eagle.jpg
I was stunned in my wanderings around St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin, to come upon the eagle lectern, pictured below. What? A bird of prey as the support for the words of God? We were told the eagle was chosen as a symbol for the gospel being taken forth boldly to the world. Isn’t this the wrong message? Maybe in hindsight it works as we look back at history, but what happened to the dove as an intentional symbol of the Church's message?
image found at www.stpatricks-cathedral.org/south.htm
image found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluetit/83588404/in/set-276807/
But then I remembered eagle feathers being associated with healing in Native American tribes. In fact, eagles symbolize many different things, according to www.eagles.org.
Here is a list of characteristics www.eagles.org says are associated with the eagle:
- bravery/courage
- messenger of gods and goddesses
- strength
- life-threatening effects of environmental pollution, habitat loss, wildlife persecution, and man's clash with nature
- closest animal to the Creator
- highest pursuits
- power
- eagle medicine: power of the Spirit
- high ideals
Just shows the complexity of language and cultural symbols. How do you view the eagle, symbolically or otherwise?
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