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Sept 29, 2003 Over the past year or so, I've heard a lot of references to patriotism. Liberals are against America. Conservatives are stupid flag wavers. History textbooks don't lead to enough pride in this country. The Pledge of Allegiance shouldn't be taught in school. We're the best country on earth. We're all arrogant bullies. All of it basically comes down to one thing, and that is the debate over patriotism. It comes down to the differences between people. There are those who love their country, and those who do not. Everyone has the right to believe as they wish, but I have to wonder where those beliefs will lead. Those people who are not proud to be Americans will spend their lives pointing out our faults and failures. Christopher Columbus murdered thousands of native people. We had a bunch of slaves (until the Republican party was formed.) We (and by that I mean the Democrats) threw the Japanese in internment camps. We (also the Democrats) dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We (and again, I of course mean our beloved Democrats) started the Vietnam war and lost thousands of lives. Lastly, the thing we should be most ashamed of is how we have risen up to be such a powerful country. Then there are the others who have pride in the United States. They will never forget our democracy and fights for freedom. How we have grown from a country of "tired and poor" immigrants to a country of great strength and diversity. How we have poured billions of dollars into the development of other countries and lifted other countries from war (many times.) These are the people, with their belief in our capabilities, who will bring this country to the best it can be. Without love of our accomplishments, and the desire to continue to be great we can go nowhere but down. I have heard a lot of accusations lately having to do with the teaching of schools and of patriotism. Many people are saying that schools and textbooks inspire very little pride in this country. As a student, I think there is a lot of truth to those accusations. When I walked into my geography class for the first time this year, would anyone like to put forth a guess as to what the first thing we learned was? Did we learn the seven continents? The names and locations of the oceans? Did we learn about the latitude and longitude lines that make up the grid system? No, the first thing we learned was the definition of the word ethnocentric. I'd like to see a show of hands from everyone who thinks that was done for a reason. Patriotism in this country is becoming politically incorrect, the more popular view is that we are all fat, arrogant bullies. That image is projected continually in all different aspects of this country. What makes this deterioration of the country's patriotism so scary is that it really will send us spiraling downward. It is fundamentally impossible to improve something unless you love it enough to try. I was traveling with people from my school in Africa last spring, and it was an odd feeling to be halfway around the world and way out in the middle of nowhere while the US was at war. With everything going on at the time, nobody thought that the rest of the world had a very favorable view of America. We encountered many different beliefs during that time. We had people come to our campsite at night to scream at us for being from the United States, however three days later when a man in a gas station heard where we were from he threw his arm around my shoulder and yelled, "God bless America!" The most interesting feelings of our country however, were those that could be witnessed within our own group. My classmates kept making derogatory comments and jokes about our home country. At one point our guide turned to us in confusion and said, "Why do you guys think you're so bad?" Well, we're Americans. We were taught to feel that way. One of my friends is extremely liberal. One day she was over at my house and we were going to play cards. The cards I had in my bedroom had American flags and eagles on them and she said to me teasingly, "Don't you have any other ones? These go against my beliefs." Though she meant it somewhat jokingly, the statement is all too true for much of the United States, patriotism is against their beliefs. To these people, I have to wonder, what exactly will be accomplished by continually bad mouthing this country? If you truly hate it that much, nobody is making you stay. If you truly want to make it better, how about some constructive ideas rather than simply mean spirited attacks? The United States from the beginning has been a country of controversies, triumphs and losses- like every other country in the entire world. It has it's good traits and it has it's faults, but there is no reason to be ashamed of it. We've come a long way, and we have a long way to go, and it is those who have pride and patriotism who are capable of making this country the best that it can be. The plague of anti- Americanism among Americans will be our downfall, because the true strength of a nation lies in how much the people love it and how far they are willing to go for it. The character of a country is in it's citizens, not it's leaders. ------------ About the author: Natalie Amethyst is an opinionated high school sophmore who loves to write, travel and debate politics as well as ski, horseback ride and read. She hopes to become more involved in politics as well as spend her life writing all over the world. Email Natalie Amethyst: natalie3_8@hotmail.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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