Patriotism

I was at a gas station and was asked if I wanted to buy one of those yellow ribbon magnets for the car. I said no. The follow-up question was "so you don't support the troops?"

There are a couple things wrong with this question. First, buying one of these over-used symbols of Iraqi wars does not by itself indicate a support of troops, nor does not having one suggest disrespect for our bravest fighting for American freedom. Our house has American flags, and we were the only ones in the neighborhood to have American flags in the front lawn for Memorial Day, elections, Flag Day, and soon to be Independence Day. Yet not having one of these magnets would indicate that we were less patriotic than other would-be patriots.

Second, these magnets are made by some fellow/company taking advantage of the wars to make a profit. It is commercialism at the bloody expense of the young men and women fighting for American interests (regardless if people accept the reasons for the war). That seems to be a twisted reason to make profit.

It gives people a false sense of patriotism when there are many better ways to express patriotism.

Here are some better ideas for showing patriotism to the people who defend our country.

• One example is the waitress in Texas who raised money for her son's platoon to have body armor.
• Write letters to the soldiers and let them know we care. Letters are like gold to soldiers that are sent away from home.
• Arrange to send care packages to soldiers.
• Visit them in hospital or greet them with smiles when they return home.
• Remind Congress and the President to take care of our soldiers during and after combat.
• Be active in your community and treasure your liberties that they have fought to preserve!
• Most importantly! Vote because they fight (and many more before them have fought and died) for you to have that right!

Author:: Tony Hansen