Patriotism:
A Letter to the Editor
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!
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