I Love a Parade

Naturally, you’d start by disagreeing. You manage to disagree with yourself, you’re so prone to it.

Before I get there, let me say that the rampant use of poorly placed prepositions probably won’t continue to sit well for much longer. I’m saying that to myself as much as I am to you, so now we are both on notice. Carrying on…

You think patriotism is silly? Patriotism is the feeling of pride for and loyalty to one’s country. So you believe pride and loyalty are silly? Let’s exclude the long view wherein we are ants, smaller than ants, in the grand scheme of all existence, because at that distance nothing matters and conversation is irrelevant. At closer range, pride and loyalty are not silly, they inspire, motivate, and establish important bumper rails for human comportment. 

Surely you know that, so I’ll assume that if you love the idea of patriotism, but you don’t love what it is, you have narrowed your view of what it is to the tiniest sliver on the spectrum of its impact. Let’s start with this: why is your relationship to your country and your view of patriotism centered on war and violence?

I’ll refrain here from saying that maybe you should spend more time analyzing why you are entertained by simulations of death and war and can spend hours mindlessly forcing fake blood to splatter on the screen of your giant television in your prideful American home. What’s fun about that, again? Man in the mirror and all that jazz. Of course mortal combat is not the entirety of who you are and death and destruction are not the only, or even the principle, outcomes of patriotism.

Run amok, all things are bad. An excess of chocolate cake, no matter how fantastic, will make you sick. Water, which is life-saving in its proper dosage, is responsible for more death and destruction than patriotism ever will be. I’ll suggest neither of us would wag a disapproving finger at chocolate cake or water.

So when we look at patriotism we can muse unhappily at the perversion of twisted German nationalism during the anomaly of World War II, and say ‘this is not what I signed on for’, but we cannot close our eyes to all the other elements of patriotism which balance these grotesque facets of its complexion, nor can we include the benefits as casual asides. How many days of perfectly reasonable patriotic expression have passed in Germany since the days of war? Have there been more good than bad prior and since? Do you know which country immediately follows the U.S. as the preferred destination for new immigrants around the world?

On the whole, patriotism is beautiful. It is alive and well and doing good work everywhere in our country and in others all the time, every day, in ways small and large. Patriotism provides directions to lost tourists downtown with a smile and a pat on the back. Patriotism clothes and feeds refugees, finds families places to live, has inter-faith breakfasts, and donates blood and food. Patriotism marches in the street peacefully, and provides us comfort when we feel attacked. Patriotism works long hours to provide service to our fellow countrymen in rain, snow, sleet, or shine. It shapes our laws and reshapes them when needed. And patriotism stands at our borders - whether we like the concept of borders or not - and protects us, because the world includes great things and good, and danger too. Don’t be naive. Patriotism shows up when no one else has the courage and says, ‘Don’t worry, I’m here. I’ll save you.’ And does. 

We can argue the merits of every war, but that’s a different conversation and likely will end with us agreeing that it is human nature to fight. Americans may have fought wars for the wrong reasons, I think all humans have, but I don’t think that belongs in the ‘con’ column when we assess the value of patriotism. The two are largely unrelated, in my view.

Even if they are linked, the problem cannot be unique to us, can it? So I’d be less offended by your thesis if I thought it was aimed at extreme cases of patriotism gone wrong everywhere. Instead, and maybe because you begin with the 4th of July as your backdrop, it seems trained only on the dark side of American patriotism. Your wish away from that misses something pretty important. American patriotism is gathered around something universal - the concept of freedom - and while the modern-day conversation may find more us-v-them vernacular than it should, the truth of us is still much deeper and altruistic. Maybe my patriotism colors my view.

On the 4th of July we celebrate the brilliant courage and tenacity of everyday individuals who felt morally obligated to right a wrong against all odds, in order to declare a patriotism that was sewn of their connections to one another, to the land and spirit of our country. Were they perfect? No! In fact they were cruel and awful to others and it took years and years to address their sins; it’s something we’re working on today. But do we blame patriotism for that? Of course not. Instead, we credit patriotism for the freedom that ultimately allows us this platform for discourse. That’s a beautiful thing, and far more powerful and lasting an outcome of patriotism than the exceptions of derailed nationalism you provide.

So stop raining on my 4th of July parade. I deeply love my country, even with its flaws, and I think it’s worth celebrating and you should too. Also stop drinking beer and gawking at pretty women. Your mother raised you better than that.

C.