Patriotism

It is the 4^th of July. It is hotter than blue blazes. But we sit in our air conditioned home viewing the magic Mississippi and watching reruns of the witty series Marshall. It is a day of patriotism. It is a day when many feel proud to be an American. It is a day when a lot of folk get drunk, drive boats and cars while intoxicated and set off fireworks which may cause yet another forest fire. It’s America the land of the home and the brave and the cowardly and the bigoted and the tolerant. It is a place where the tired and poor of other nations are welcomed into our melting pot of cultures and races; it is a place where we seek to drive out foreigners we fear may change our culture.

Robert Reich writes about two forms of patriotism. Version one wants to protect our borders from things we fear may threaten us. Version two is seeing ourselves as a country that bans together to work for our common good.

Version two is much more appealing to me. However, we see less and less evidence of it in our country. We brand each other with labels, which are good and descriptive labels that we turn into labels of accusation and demeaning. Our politics have become mean and downright evil, and we are influenced more by negative thinkers that positive visionaries. We value vested groups identification more than common ground; party positions over American standards and values.

The U.S. government is the best symbol of who we are as a nation, a democracy that makes us stand apart with visions of hope and equality. But we see politicians more willing to fight to the end to get rid of the opponents than to work for the common good. We are even willing to shut down our government over ideological issues than seek compromise for the good of the nation and its citizens.

I fail to understand the thinking of those who call themselves patriots and then condemn the government rather than work to make it good.

Patriotism it seems to me is about moral values of fair play, respect for each other as equal citizens, of being concerned with all the people of our nation not just a privileged few.  Patriotism is not about competition but about cooperation and respect for each other.

When the national anthem is played and the flag flies the hairs stand up on the back of my neck because of those values that I have mentioned that make us a good people.

Whether we keep in the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance or not is not important to me. But I believe in the truth of it. And I also believe it true of all nations. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, all religious seems to share common values as to how we are to treat each other in humane ways.

May we celebrate those values in our countries and respect them in all countries. Patriots are not to see their country as better than others, but as a witness in values that are universally important. We need to learn from each other.