Barbara Patton:  Patriotism alive and well in America

Patriotism! What a soul stirring, resounding word. This is the character word of the month and should not be difficult to write about. After all, this is the month that we celebrate our country’s independence.
How easy to be patriotic on the Fourth of July with red, white and blue everywhere, flags flying, and hearing the “Star Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” being played and sung.

Webster says “Patriotism” is love for or devotion to one’s country and it comes to us from a Greek word meaning fatherland. That’s simple enough. Most of us are grateful for the country we live in and not many of us would want to live anywhere else in the world. For a long time, patriotism referred just to a love of the physical features of one’s homeland and its people. But, meanings of words can become complex, can’t they?

Enter the ideals of democracy, socialism, and communism. Now, the love of one’s country encompasses not only the land and the people but also its political leanings, pride in its history, the preservation of customs and traditions, and its welfare.

America was formed on certain values, rights, and freedoms. Patriotism involves supporting these for our nation. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold certain truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
When these values, rights and freedoms are not being upheld, we should have the freedom to speak up, as protected in the Bill of Rights, and it not be unpatriotic to do so.

This is an election year for our country and locally, in Opelika. Being apathetic is not being patriotic. We need to be informed on the issues that face us and vote to make sure all our different voices and opinions are heard. It is our patriotic duty to vote for the people we think will best represent us in this country.

According to a survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, and reported by the university’s news office in June, 1998, Americans are prouder of their country than 23 other nations studied.

Americans, with a score of 38.5 out of a possible 50 in the National Pride in Specific Achievements rankings, rated their country tops in political influence, economic performance, scientific and technical accomplishments, and the ability of the armed forces. In the General National Pride scale, Americans (89.9 percent) were more likely to say they would rather be a citizen of their country than any other. That states to me that basic patriotism is alive and well in the U.S.

In the aftermath of the terrorists’ acts on 9/11, Americans showed their patriotism to the world, as people rallied, demonstrating what it meant to love one’s country, take pride in it, and cared for one another.

Following this horrific day, as Americans were urged to fly the American Flag for 30 days, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said: “You will be sending a strong signal to millions of people here at home and abroad that the red, white and blue represents freedom and democracy, and those ideals will live on.”

Barbara Patton is executive director of Envision Opelika and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.