Patriotism slipping away
To the editor:
Thomas Jefferson once told a young boy to “love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself.”
A patriot is someone who loves his country, who is willing to sacrifice for his country, and, yes, a patriot is someone willing to lay down his life for his country.
And so it has been, since the founders organized America the beautiful – and it grew to become the greatest nation on earth. Built on a solid foundation consisting of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Ten Commandments, America thrived, and grew, and became the envy of the world.
So sad, that today we are living through what I see as being, post-patriotic America! Yes, some of the ties that bind still exist, but they are growing frayed and tired and attenuated.
Today nobody is really teaching our children to love their country. Sure, they still pick bits and pieces up from their parents but in general we have dropped the ball. The schools, most of them, do not encourage patriotic feelings. Many of them do not teach the Pledge of Allegiance, do not celebrate Washington’s birthday, and ignore the Ten Commandments. All this results in disrespect for their parents, their elders, law enforcement, and all other authoritative entities.
Without patriotism virtues disappear and morality is non-existent.
Wholesale murder is then renamed abortion and we consider this a license to torture and then kill millions of babies in the womb each year. And when the President of The United States travels around the world apologizing for America’s misdeeds, instead of heralding this nation’s philanthropic and fantastic giving greatness we then stoke the flames that serve to destroy patriotism.
This is not to say that America has been without missteps. This is to say that the United States of America, because of patriots, grew to become the greatest nation in the history of the world. We sent men and women from the armed forces to other parts of the world throughout the last century to put down oppression. We defeated fascism, we defeated communism, we saved Europe in World War I and II and in return the only land we asked for was enough to bury our dead. That’s our legacy, that’s the kind of nation we are and that’s what those that understand the value of patriotism should be mentioning.
Without patriotism America will become a third-rate nation.
John Wayne may have said it best when he opined; “Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure, I love my country with all her faults. I’m not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.”
It’s time for President Obama to wave the American Flag; denigration of America is just plain un-American!!!
Dick Kalfus
Cape Coral