I have an unfortunate task ahead of me; I have to write about patriotism. What it is, who has it, when do we show it. Now of course this task I gave myself, the topic I gave myself. I lied awake for several nights trying to decide what is patriotism; I wrestled with the definitions until sleep finally took hold of me.

To make this task even more unfortunate is the fact that I am writing this article on September 11th. As I write this, memorials are being viewed, people across the world are praying, holding their flags high in the air and waving them. As I write this, tears are welling in my eyes for the 3,025 people who lost their lives that day.

But is that Patriotism? Is waving the flag to mark an anniversary of tragedy patriotism? Or could it be some form of pseudo-patriotism? I understand that people want to express the pride that they have for the country, and its resolve, that is all well and good. But can that be defined as patriotism? I have great pride for the United States of America, its people and government.

The United States stands for liberty it stands for rights, and equality, though these may at time be denied, misconstrued or forgotten at the wayside, it stands for these things. People for hundreds of years have believed this, have sacrificed for this, have traveled thousands of miles across all seven seas to be apart of it, and ultimately have died for the liberty, justice, equality, and all else that the United States has stood for, and will stand for. Patriotism in my eyes is the love a person has for their country, for home and for their family. When the first shots were fired on the April Morning in 1775, they were not fired by ones who hated their country, but by one who loved their home, their families more than the governing body that imposed the laws of the king. They were patriots.

When in 1861 the South fired upon the Union fort, they were not doing this out of hatred for the country, they were doing it out of love for their homes, for their states, for their rights as they saw them. When the sixty thousand men died in the three day battle of Gettysburg they died as patriots. They loved their country so much that they died for it. They had a cause that they believed in and they were willing to die for.

Death cannot be the only way of showing your patriotism. Patriotism can be shown through disagreement, through discourse through argument. When the students and “hippies” of the sixties and seventies protested the war in Vietnam, the governmental policies enacted in that time, they did so not in hatred of the country but out of love. They felt it was their duty to address, and redress the wrongs they felt were being enacted. They were patriots. They burned flags, draft cards, even their bras, and yet they were patriots. They loved this country so much that they had to disagree with what was done. It was their right to speak out against the policies, to burn the flag.

Addressing flag burning I see problems that may occur. The flag is the ensign of the United States of all that we hold dear. It truly is, as the song says, “the emblem of the land I love,” then how is it possible for it to be patriotic to burn the symbol of all that you hold dear? Men and women throughout the 226 years of our independence have died to secure our rights and liberties. They fought so that we may have rights today. They died and fought so that we may have freedom of religion, press and speech, not to mention many others. They sacrificed so that we may burn the flag, when we disagree with polices the government has enacted. Flag burners are patriots to a certain extent. To burn the flag you must do so legitimately with grievances that cannot be addressed in any other venue. You cannot burn the flag out of hatred out of malice or simply for fun. Doing so you trivialize all that men and women have fought and died for, you then are no patriot.

I, throughout this column, have answered most of the questions I posed; I want to answer one more. I hope I have defined who are patriots, and what is patriotism, now I wish to answer when do we celebrate patriotism. Do we hold our patriotism until holidays or remembrances roll around? Or can it be something more?

To have patriotism, to wave the flag only once a year, would be like being in the Christmas Spirit only on December 25th. When you hold the red white and blue in your heart year round, then you are practicing patriotism. I am not asking for the Pledge of Allegiance to be uttered every morning at dawn, but hold the flag and all it stands for year round.

Do not put the flag in the back of your mind until it happens to be a national holiday. Patriotism is not something that can be left aside or put in the attic for storage. It must grow breathe in the hearts and actions of the people. When you do this, you are a Patriot.