Occasional Patriotism
Oct. 15th, 2001 01:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotech_masterAt the moment, I'm looking at one of my favorite comic strips' response to the tragedy of Sept. 11. It's an image of all the regular and semi-regular characters from the comic strip gathered together in a candlelight vigil, and I rather like their expressions--they run the gamut of all the emotional responses, including shock, sadness, worry, and anger (I especially like the expression on the face of Sasha, the white Siberian tiger).
Ever since the whole thing happened, I've seen lots of American flags. Time was I was asked several times a day while I was working part-time at the K-Mart here in Springfield if we had any of them in stock. It makes me a little proud of the country in which I live, and yet at the same time, it bothers me--much the same way that the preponderance of flags that show up around holidays like Independance Day and Memorial Day does.
It's nice to see people rallying around the flag, but I just don't think that patriotism should be a seasonal or an occasional thing. It shouldn't have to take five thousand people dying to cause us all to bring out the red, white, and blue.
I know, I know, human nature. We take things for granted until we're reminded of just how very fragile they really are. Deep down, we're all proud of our country, aren't we? I mean, looking beyond partisan politics, policy squabbles, budget and taxation arguments, everything argued over by the idjits who were in power a few years ago and the idjits who are in power now, looking at our country itself...aren't we lucky to live in such a place where we do have these freedoms? And don't we need to do all we can to help protect that country and those freedoms from the people (both foreign and domestic) who would threaten them?
Too many deep thoughts for one evening...off to bed for me.
Ever since the whole thing happened, I've seen lots of American flags. Time was I was asked several times a day while I was working part-time at the K-Mart here in Springfield if we had any of them in stock. It makes me a little proud of the country in which I live, and yet at the same time, it bothers me--much the same way that the preponderance of flags that show up around holidays like Independance Day and Memorial Day does.
It's nice to see people rallying around the flag, but I just don't think that patriotism should be a seasonal or an occasional thing. It shouldn't have to take five thousand people dying to cause us all to bring out the red, white, and blue.
I know, I know, human nature. We take things for granted until we're reminded of just how very fragile they really are. Deep down, we're all proud of our country, aren't we? I mean, looking beyond partisan politics, policy squabbles, budget and taxation arguments, everything argued over by the idjits who were in power a few years ago and the idjits who are in power now, looking at our country itself...aren't we lucky to live in such a place where we do have these freedoms? And don't we need to do all we can to help protect that country and those freedoms from the people (both foreign and domestic) who would threaten them?
Too many deep thoughts for one evening...off to bed for me.
