Independence Day

Can I tell you a secret?

I've never really understood patriotism.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-American. I'm not a basher of the good ole U.S.A. I don't assume that all of the world's problems have been caused by the United States, or that we're the most immoral country that's ever lived. I didn't cheer on September 11, 2001.

And you don't have to tell me: I know that America has some crowning achievements:

• We were the first modern democratic republic.
• Our involvement in World War II prevented the Axis powers from taking over all of Western Europe.
• After World War II we recognized that Asia and Europe had been financially devastated by the war and extended our financial strength and resources to rebuild these areas.
• We stood up as a world leader in the formation of the United Nations.
• We donate money and resources every year to nations in need.
• Our resolve and strength helped defeat the tyrannical powers of the Soviet Union.

On the other hand, we've had our share of bad times, too:

• We allowed slavery to a) happen at all and b) continue long after most other nation's had realized the evil of it and made it illegal.
• We consume more natural resources per person than any other nation in the world. No one else even comes close.
• We've started at least two wars that we had no business starting (The Spanish American War and the Iraq War).
• Let's be honest and call our victories over the many Native American groups what they really are, what they'd be called if they happened today: genocide.

And besides, when I say that I don't "get" patriotism, I'm not just talking about American patriots anyway. I'm talking about patriots in all countries. I just don't get why people should be so proud of being a citizen of this country or that. It was simple luck of the draw that the person were born there instead of being born somewhere else.

So. So what? So when I attend Board of Education meetings I stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, but I find its words a little hollow. I don't have a problem with most of them. After all, I am--as the first line would have me state--allied with the republic of the United States of America. And I'm not a crazy separatist--I do see the U.S. as "one nation." I'm not so sure we're "under God" any more than any other nation, but the Civil War did pretty much settle the "indivisible" part. Try to divide yourself from us and we'll come after you...with canons and bayonets and stuff.

I guess it's the "liberty and justice for all" part that strikes me as a bit off. Tell that to the hundreds or thousands of innocent black men in jails. Or to the impoverished Americans without jobs and health care, without a good education and without even the wisdom to understand the need for it. Maybe we should reword the Pledge of Allegiance to say that liberty and justice for all are goals we have as a nation. I'd buy that. I honestly believe that.

But today...I don't honestly care that much about today. Maybe I take this nation for granted, which is what patriotic people say about people like me. If I lived in some other country they'd throw me in jail for writing something like this. Which may or may not be true. Still, I can't be anything other than what I am, and what I am is a person who doesn't much feel a need to fly a flag in front of my house, or celebrate the existence of my country by discharging in the street weak but colorful explosives. Instead, I'll do what I'm doing right now, which is working, just like it's any other day. Because that's all it is to me.