Independence Day. There's a lot to unpack in the name of the thing alone.
It's a holiday I've looked forward to since I was a very small child for a lot of reasons. "American" has kinda always been a part of my identity. I learned the songs we all learned in 5th grade, I internalized everything my teachers said about rights and liberties, about the land of the brave, the home of the free, etc. Do we really need to talk about this? It's just kinda heavy stuff, and not in a "there's way too much meat at this barbecue" sort of way...
All right, let's approach this from a slightly different direction. I learned a lot of songs in 5th grade about America (not sure why only 5th grade springs to mind, but there it is), it's where I first learned the lyrics to the national anthem, America the Beautiful, a couple of the hymns for branches of the military, and so forth. But of course the song that springs most readily to mind when you start talking about what it means to be an American (because I'm pretty sure it's the only one that actually uses the word "American") is probably God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood.
It evokes a lot of the same verbiage as other quintessentially American songs and poems, but packages them three layers deep beneath the feel-good sugar of pride. "I'm proud to be an American." It talks about knowing you're free, honoring the sacrifices of the people who gave freedom to you, and defending the American ideal at whatever personal cost it might require. It's simple and straight-forward enough that even as a 5th grader I understood the meaning completely.
Or at least, I thought I did. As I got older I realized that there was more nuance to all of that, rooted in the inherent imperfection of individual humans. People make bad decisions all the time, influenced by their biases, their weaknesses, their ignorance and lack of empathy, and so the society around me, the America I sang about in 5th grade, was riddled with flaws.
The founding fathers, the men who willed this country into being through their intellect and the support (and sacrifice) of thousands in the communities around them, weren't perfect. Slave owners, a lot of them. Womanizers, more than a few. Sometimes childish, sometimes spineless. The wars fought by the nation they founded, the declarations we've made on the world stage run the gamut from defense of our homeland and the rejection of tyranny to unwanted meddling and an economy of force. Problems abound abroad and at home.
There is an awful lot of talk about the flaws of America these days. They are legion, no doubt, some of them recent, some of them older than the nation itself. But as we approached the celebration of our nation's Independence Day this year I took some well needed time to reflect and, in all honesty, I can say that I still love this country.
I still believe in America. I still think this is a magnificent place filled with possibility, and I recognize that those possibilities are my responsibility now.
Because when I sang about the liberties of the American ideal in 5th grade, I meant it. These songs don't specify a group of the population that qualifies as Americans, it's just... everyone who lives here. Every soul that needed, at the end of anything, to know they were free. That's what America, as an idea, a concept, is. Liberty and justice for all. I know the founders of our nation were flawed, but I also believe in the America they were creating even if they may not have understood exactly what they were building themselves. Millions have laid down their lives in the name of a nation that I believe can stand for freedom, and whatever the motives behind their wars I can't help but salute the individual sacrifices.
I'm aware this may all sound somewhat Star Trek in its utopian ideals, but frankly that's the end goal of all of this. Of the human experience. Liberty. Justice. For all.
America, if I could carve and gild it onto stone.
So if that's America, and an American is someone who lives in America, what is a patriot? Someone who loves and takes pride in America? Maybe. But I don't think that says enough. As I've said I do love the idea of America, and I do believe in it. I am, for better or worse, an American. But am I proud to be one? I think it's the mark of a fool to take pride in the works and sacrifices of someone else, in which you had no hand. So in order to be proud of being an American, I feel like we must have a hand in building her or defending her, or perhaps in having raised children who's efforts have built or defended her. Like many of you the works of my own hands in that direction are limited, and it's far too early to say whether my efforts as a parent would warrant pride.
As far as I can see, this is what patriotism is. An American who's love of country drives them to action on her behalf. If I want to be a patriot I need to work within my own sphere to build America. To defend her, at least. And everywhere I look around me, she is in need of defense. Not from enemies overseas, as has been the case in the past, but from enemies here around us. People posing as patriots while having forgotten what America is meant to be. Defending the nation that we love against the actions of these misled people hasn't been and doesn't look to be getting any easier, but here's my pledge to do it anyway. To be a patriot, and leave behind something I can be proud of.
So I will defend America, the land of the free, against those who would take freedom from anyone. Against the brutality of those who were tasked to protect and serve but seem to have forgotten what that means. Against anyone who cannot serve their community through such a simple act as putting on a mask at the grocery store. Against the bigotry, ignorance, and blind idiocy broadcast from the highest office in the land. This division threatens my home, this land of freedom that may have never existed in perfection but in which I still believe.
America is justice and freedom, and patriotism is standing firm for that justice and freedom even when bigots, racists, and misogynists try to drag it all down. I will fight these battles as they come for as long as it takes to ensure the America my children inherit is the same one I grew up singing about. There are so many battles to fight, so many fronts those of us who still believe in America need to defend. But here's a couple of prominent ones we need to focus on right now.
- Black Lives Matter - We cannot possibly defend our own freedom if we're not willing to defend everyone's freedom, so if we're going to start somewhere let's start here. We need to reform the standard of policing in this nation, and we need to reform the justice system to hold the officers who protect us to the same set of laws as govern you and me, regardless of the color of our skin.
- COVID-19 Pandemic - We are losing this fight through the selfishness of a few powerful people and the blindness of their spineless followers. Physical distancing and wearing masks aren't a matter of personal rights, they're a matter of whether you care about the other Americans around you and their freedom, their right, to not die.
- The Office of the President - Regardless of personal political views I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the president of the United States of America is sort of the image of America for the term they are in office. As such, the person placed in that office should reflect the ideals of America. Freedom. Justice. For All. And it's clear to anyone paying attention that the man currently in that office does not embody those ideals. We need to vote him out of office this November and send a clear message to the remnants of his misguided, un-American political party that we won't allow his selfish and fascist ideologies to take root here.
Make no mistake, this is about patriotism, about what you are willing to do for your nation. Defending America today isn't a matter of going to war for most of us; the US military has us well and truly covered on that front, and a great deal of thanks to them for a lot of that. No, our battle is against the ignorance, selfishness, and bigotry that is parading around our communities, unchallenged, pretending at being somehow patriotic.
But ignorance, selfishness, and bigotry are not patriotism. They are the tools of oppression. And they have no place in the land of the free.
Not in our America.
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