Thoughts on Patriotism

*The grating sound of chairs squeaking on linoleum floors*, in unison the kids around me stand up, it looks like they’re towering over me, as I stay seated in a tiny plastic chair. They face a flag hanging over the class schedule, written in expo marker on a whiteboard, beside a brown box loudspeaker. I stare at it as the other kids follow along the voice from the speaker reciting the pledge. I can feel the vibrations created by the monotone voices in neighboring classrooms. A looming presence approaches from behind but I don’t break my gaze at the flag. A tap on my shoulder, stand up. I want to ask why? and explain all my big feelings about how weird it is that we have to pledge allegiance to the strip of land we were born on every morning, but I don’t. I stand up and mumble along with the rest of the class.

Never in my life have I understood patriotism. Love for a country didn’t make sense to me. It’s the strip of land I happened to be born on, I feel no responsibility to it, is what I thought growing up, every time I was forced to stand for the pledge. But since the 2024 election I’m beginning to understand.

I watched and listened to people in the political space morn the death of America. While the land is still alive and breathing, it’s only the physical body, the vessel. What makes America great is our collective mind, where the idea of democracy is held. Then Trump gave America a strong blow to the head and now it is brain dead. Without that brain the land can be molded and dressed to be whatever the new host wants it to be. That is both terrifying and empowering.

Patriotism makes a lot more sense to me if it is thought about in this way. Even with all its flaws, the core idea of democracy is what created this country. That idea makes it possible for the country to be whatever we decide it should be. That’s what I love about this country.