Isn't it funny how one off-hand comment can have much larger impact? Here's a case in point. Last week at work my iPhone was laying out on the desk. A staff member from another department, of whom I think well, noticed the case. It is the American flag. This person glanced at it and commented along the lines of, "Is that your phone? Hm. It's so...what am I looking for? Patriotic." Though the word that I heard was "patronizing". I cannot convey the amused contempt in her voice. I was busy at the time and thought no more about it.
Later that day I replayed the event in my mind. Here was an educated and intelligent woman- easily in her thirties, so I can't pass it off to the idiocy of youth. She enjoys the freedom to choose her residence, career, frozen pizza or East West Bistro for dinner tonight. I am quite certain she is a registered voter and participates in the democratic process of government with relish. Yet the idea of taking pride in the very country that has bestowed such freedoms on her simply because she had the fortune to be born on this soil was something to be held in contempt.
The popular pass time of griping and bitching about our government and its leaders, (I use the term loosely) is not only a tradition in America, it is at the heart of our way of life. It is, in a sense, a right. Voting is just a more formalized and binding version of that. If you do not approve of how our elected officials are doing, or not doing, their job, kick them to the curb when the opportunity presents itself.
Personally, I love to grumble and gripe about government indecision making. But the idea of criticizing and scorning the very institution that allows for such discourse and disagreements is beyond me.
International opinion of America has dropped over the years. I agree that elements of our foreign policy need to be thoughtfully reexamined. Our domestic policies could use some revamping as well. I could spend all day rattling on about what's wrong with this country of ours. I can sum up what makes this nation great. What makes this nation worth fighting for--in the press, the picket lines and the fox holes, is participation. The freedom to choose how we want our nation to be.
I believe our country is in the state of affairs it is because we have decided--however uninformed, that such is how we want it to be. Well, at least the majority of the voting public has made that decision. I am not implying that voters consciously decided that we should be lagging in education, fiscal responsibility, etc. But the choices that were made in elected officials and the decisions those bodies have made are responsible for just such concerns. And if we either continue to give incompetent men and women the power to make these bad decisions, or simply do not oppose them, we are getting exactly what we want. Ignorance is not an excuse for bad decision making on our part. Remember the adage, 'Be careful what you wish for'. Well, there's some truth to that observation.
Forgive me, I digress. Soapboxes are so intoxicating.
Yes, well, the idea that holding our nation and its principles up as objects of scorn is enough to turn my stomach. The idea that such is a matter of fashion is worse. And I think that is what it is: fashionable. National pride is something our grandparents held dear. That is so not in the Now. It belongs in history books, country songs and on redneck bumper stickers. And that in itself is not a bad thing. History books endure. Country music stations are everywhere, for better or worse. And rednecks? They're even in Hawaii.
But these are not the last bastions of nationalism to be found. This country is chocked full of veterans of the armed forces. Every last one of us, at one time in our lives wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam for the amount up to and including our very lives. Most of us never gave that idea a second thought. It doesn't do well to dwell upon such concerns. But there have been many who have paid that amount in full and many more who have yet to do so if this nation is to endure. I don't think the idea of money for college or something better than working fast food are sufficient to cause someone to make such a decision. And I have a suspicion that the more in vogue element to whom such ideals as national pride, honor and sacrifice are objects of ridicule have never spent a single day in any branch of the military.
Imagine that.
Let me wrap this up, the kids are starting to lay siege to the pantry. It could get ugly in short order.
So, if you are of the mindset that patriotism, pride in your nation and the boundless opportunities that this great nation of ours presents to us, are hokey, contemptuous and antiquated, just remember that those values are exactly why you can voice so loudly and frequently, said opinions. And after you've pondered that one for a bit, please shuffle off to Hell.
A special note of thanks to all who serve or have ever served. Who believe that some things for which fighting and even dying are not too much to ask. You have the gratitude of a larger share of this nation and its people than you may suspect.
Semper Fi
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