Well, 4th of July just passed. And the celebrations could be seen all around us. Flags flying, parades everywhere and fireworks to scare the cats – and kids. And it made me wonder – what does it mean to be a patriot?
We were sitting outside having a barbeque. American style. Burgers and all. Pretty American on 4th of July. Just us South Africans and an Aussie friend. Anyway… Our backyard neighbors were having their own party. Big family gathering. Even bigger griller. And meat to feed an army. At least a few divisions. And it went on and on. The crowd kept on growing and the noise kept on rising. We didn’t have a problem with it. They were having fun. Good clean fun. (And we loved the fireworks later in the evening – all courtesy of our partying neighbors.) And then we noticed the balloons.
Big balloons. All in the American colors. Red, white and blue. Stars and stripes everywhere. Almost every chair had a few of them tied to the back. Flying in the wind. This new type of flag. My wife and myself looked at each other and laughed. A very typical thing for us – we know each other way too well already! We said it at almost the same time, “I bet you those balloons were made in China!”
She won the right to blog on the “Made in China” joke. I really can’t say no to her. But it made me think of China. Again. And on the meaning of being proud of your country. Being a patriot.
And no. It wasn’t the “Free Tibet” flags that was made in China that made me think of China. It was my recent chats with a few Chinese in China that made me realize they are very proud of their country. Well, most of them anyway. Wherever I went they told me so. How they love their country and how proud they are of how China is developing. And, of course, the Beijing Olympics. For them the Olympics was about the Chinese people and not the Chinese government. A chance for us to meet China and the Chinese people. For them it was about them and their country. And not their government. I know, the Chinese government really secured the Olympics – not the people. But it still made sense. I know how it felt.
I have always loved my country. And my people. But I wasn’t always that proud of my government. The Apartheid government was not a regime to be proud of. Trust me. They weren’t. But I always loved my country. The mountains, the rivers, everything. And I really loved my people. It was an easy call. I loved my country. I loved my people. And I still saw myself as a patriot. I would defend my country and my people. But not my government. They were corrupt. In every sense of the word. If they asked me to go to war I would say no. If they asked me to vote in their rigged elections I wouldn’t. I would not listen to them and I would not support them in anything. But I would defend my country and my people. In my way. By protesting against the Apartheid regime. By speaking out when ever I got the chance. I would defy them. And challenge them. Because I was a patriot.
Over here in America people are asking the patriotism question. Again. And I am not just talking about Obama. Whether him wearing a flag or not makes him more or less patriotic. Like everyone wears that each day. Go do a Google search on the Mac and see how many times he wears one. Being a vet does not give you a free pass. Or at least I don’t think so. But this isn’t about Obama. Maybe only in an indirect way. The questions about him being American and being a patriot triggered some initial thoughts. But it isn’t about him. No, it’s about people who are claiming to be more patriotic than the next.
Supporting the war. That makes you a patriot. Being against gay marriages. That makes you a patriot. Not criticising President Bush. That makes you a patriot. Saying it is okay to hold people without trail and (maybe) torturing them. That makes you a patriot. Being in favour of subsidies for big oil but against universal health care. That makes you a patriot. Being Republican. Being conservative and against liberals. Listening to Rush and Bill. Watching Fox. Pro-flag. Anti-protests. And so on. And so on. It all makes you a patriot.
Or does it?
Were you a patriot if you supported the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII? Or were you a patriot when you tried to speak out against it? Were you a patriot when you supported segregation? Or were you a patriot when you acted against it? Were you a patriot when you lynched blacks and burned crosses and churches all over? Or were you a patriot when you marched against it? Were you a patriot when you supported a war to get rid of weapons of mass destruction? Or were you a patriot when you protested against a war with little evidence to support the claims of the President? Are you a patriot when you support a war no matter what the reasons? Or are you a patriot when you believe you can support the soldiers and still not agree with the war? Are you a patriot when you say other Americans are not American enough because they do not agree with everything you do or say? Or are you a patriot when you say that being an American means celebrating and loving diversity of all kinds – religion, color, languages, political thoughts, food and even stupid bloody movies?
You decide. I am not here to tell you what patriotism means in America. I can only tell you what it means for me as a South African. It means loving my country. Believing in my people. Caring for those around me. Looking after our land and the animals who live there. And speaking out when my government is unjust. Or just plain wrong. They are not my country. They are not my people. They do not stand for what my country stand for. Or at least not what the majority of us want our country to stand for. They are our government. They come and go. The people, the land and the spirit that make us never die. The meaning of being South African never come and go. It is more than the sum of us. It is that intangible meaning of us.
I am a patriotic South African when I disagree with my government when they are wrong. I am a patriot when I speak out against stupid decisions made by my government. I was a patriot when I protested against the government during Apartheid. I am a patriot when I speak out and protest against my government when I believe they are not being true to what we want our country to stand for – freedom, tolerance, equality and celebrating our diversity. And all the other good stuff.
And don’t confuse the patriotism bit with loving it or being proud of it. I love my children. But I am not proud of them when they do something wrong. I still love them. I still care for them. Deeply and without question. No less than before. But I also know I have to remind them of the rules. Our rules. Rules of respect, love and hard work. It does not make me less of a dad just because they need to know when I am disappointed with them. I tell them. But I also tell them I love them no less. I love them. I care for them. But I can’t always be proud of them. But I can be even more proud of them when they make right what they did wrong. That makes me love them even more. When they hold up their hands and say, “Yeah, I was wrong. Sorry dad.”
But driving a car made in Japan? Wearing clothes made in India? Eating food grown in Mexico? Drinking coffee grown in Ethiopia? Buying gas imported from Saudi Arabia? Reading books written by an Englishman? Watching a French movie? Having balloons made in China?
I don’t know. I like it when I see something made in South Africa. But I don’t buy it just because it is made in South Africa. I buy it (or not) because of many reasons – price, quality, taste, smell, functionality etc. Whatever. I buy it when I can. But I won’t buy a SUV just because it was made in South Africa. I’ll buy the less thirsty car made wherever.
A patriot. What is it? You decide. Because you make it. You build your country with every decision you make. The easy decisions and the difficult ones. They all count. There is no end. You build it every day. America is different from what it was a 100 years ago. Every single day you are still working on it. Keeping the good bits alive. And turning it into something new and making it relevant for society today. No end game. It’s not a game. It a journey. With no end destination. And every step counts. Every person count.
Every American count. Every American equals one brick. And you decide how strong you want this structure called America to be. You place your brick. You make it strong or you make it weak. It isn’t easy. And it has never been easy to build this great nation. It wasn’t easy to fight the British for independence. It wasn’t easy to free the slaves. It wasn’t easy to give women voting rights. It wasn’t easy to fight in WWII. It wasn’t easy to end segregation. It wasn’t easy to pull out of Vietnam. But it was the right thing to do.
Are you a patriot? Just wait before you answer. First ask yourself what does it mean to be a patriot? Define it. Look around and ask if this is what your fellow countrymen mean by it? Do you agree with it? What is your America? Happy you got all the info you need? Good. Now answer it. Are you a patriot?
Just don’t forget to look in the mirror when you answer.
Angry African on the Loose™ 
July 7, 2008 at 12:22 am
I don’t know how to define patriotism. I like this country and what it overcomes. I don’t agree with your premise. Specificly the paragraph above and below “or does it.”
I believe a loveing God set up this land for a people who want to be free. Our idividual actions count. Morality counts. Because in God we trust. I think that Bush’s Actions have fixed a lot of the wrong that we have done in the Middle east trying to make it a better place. I think that the majority of our troops are those values personified. Yea a lot of crap goes on in the military and in civilian life. Yea we need to improve. But it’s not like we went to Iraq, or Afghanistan to beat up on a bunch of innocents. This country has made huge sacrifices for the people of Iraq. Those don’t make any difference. Bush and Congress are wrong like they were wrong with intrernment camps and slavery. If we opened up the Oil here, eviromentally and soul destroying as that is made to seem. We could sit back and ignore the world and jeer at countrys like Cuba and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe and Iran. We could Ignore China more because we won’t be so far in debt. But I don’t like that answer. Isolationist is what our founding fathers were, we wouldn’t be in a war as often. But we would cease to stand for something. I think the one week war and what 5 years ocupation where we gave the land back was far kinder to Iraq then the 14 years of sactions. Of letting the UN screw things up while we wacthed. We can’t invade every country and we have to ignore half the crap that goes on out there. If we could it wouldn’t be right to go to continual war to set up a world with constitutional values like ours. But for once after 14 years of UN bungleing with a country that had gased its own people, and just friday we removed 550 tons of Urianiumn Yellowcake for Iraq, after it being an islamic state not really supporting terrorism but supportive because enemy of my enemy is my friend, was it really like putting Japanese in internment camp, Was this fear prompting a rash decision, Was this hate of Islam? How long did it take to get us to the point of invading? Congress was not a rubber stamp on this. Evidence was there. I am pro USA and I happen to support this. I remember Somalian war and wonder what we were interfering for. I took the presidents line. But now I recongise that we were fighting our biggest enemy Islams fighters ( as opposed to the peaceful pray five times a day folk) , and trying to deliver food to people. And now I wonder if it were right to pull out. The country is a wreck and at least the part that the fighters took is anti America, anti freedom or to put it in another way pro Sharia law. The world is going to drain us of money with these wars and Oil prices. We can’t fight every where. Iraq got some momentum in our corner I believe.
As for Obama, yea he loves this country. His pastor doesn’t and I am not sure if the wife is proud but at least he is. He just also wants to ignore energy. His solutions are not to drill,but go with alternatives like hydrogen, well alternatives aren’t going to cut the mustard unless you use coal glasification. and He dosen’t want to and since he beleives in government guideing things the government won’t ethier. Thats going to hurt us in the pocketbook. And so is his healthcare and his barrowing from china to pay for it. Or his taxes will have the same effect.
Where as McCain, who I also believe loves this country, though I don’t like his wife and don’t even know if he has a minister, will at least open up drilling, oh nope I was wrong. I think he is just making promises he can’t keep.
To be Honest I don’t have hope for ether. Obama is not a man of hope and Neither is McCain. So help me here I am not going to be a Patriot as in Pro USA with ethier of these clowns. What do we do? We can’t get out of the middle east or China until we have an energy policy of independence quickly and gas around 3.00. And both canidates are Anti hope and change where that is concerned. Nethier will go with homemade Coal or Oil.
If we are bricks of America then what we have to do is call and be persisent enough bricks and force what ever president and congress we have to relax the rules a bit and get us independence. The answer is the American people, Bricks if you will and right now one sided stone fights with washington sound good.
July 7, 2008 at 10:29 am
I am reminded of the war poet Wilfred Owen, when faced with the horrors of World War I wrote his poem, Dulce et Decorum Est of which the last lines go:
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Like you I love my country but I do not always love what happens here, does that make me less of a Trinidadian, only if I say nothing. Patriotism is not about waving a flag or having an idealised view of politicians and politics, it is about loving your country enough to see things and people for who and what they really are and having the courage to stand up for what is right when necessary, even when it flies in the face of populism.
July 8, 2008 at 7:55 am
@EnergyEngineer – I think we agree on what patriotism means. It means whatever the people in that country wants it to stand for. It is not the two paragraphs I wrote. Those are just things people try and claim. But patriotism is more than that. I don’t agree about the war. Too selective. Give me criteria. Give me facts. True facts. Afghanistan? yes. Iraq? Why them? And I don’t think God gave America to the people who want to be free. Freedom is in the eye of the beholder. France would say that they are free. So would Italy. Too many countries enjoy the same rights and freedoms as America. But America carries a heavier burden. And that is why the way the people of America defines patriotism is so important. It sends a message to the rest of the world.
@Coffeewallah – I am reminded of Nelson Mandela. Who stood up against Apartheid (with many others) and spoke out against the government. But even more importantly, he stood up for peace when people wanted pay-back. we love our countries and that is why we have to be vigilent and protect it from itself. Speak out when it goes off track. Like we love our children. But they are our responsibility. And so is our countries.
July 9, 2008 at 11:05 am
EnergyEngineer:
I don’t think that you really can judge whether Obama’s wife is patriotic or not.
For one, just for starters, let me ask you this:
Has the US government, within the last 40 – 50 years, ever systematically done things that violate the Constitutional rights of Black Americans?
Are you proud of how state’s rights was used to obstruct the Constitutional rights of these same individuals?
Are you aware that nearly EVERY Black American family has at least one individual who has died at the hands of vigilantes or terrorists?
Are you aware, especially since the death of Helms, of the conduct of the Republican party as far as race is concerned? Would you be proud of this? Should they?
It is not appropriate to dismiss those questions. The answers lie within the living memory of those old enough to experience it.
Most conservatives claim that this is “digging up the past”, and to an extent, it is. The problem is, though, conservatives use that to dismiss the reality of this history out of hand.
American history has clearly shown that there are issues that impinge on them differently than than on you – and – in order for you to be able to understand the difference in viewpoint on patriotism as demonstrated by memebers of the Black community, you MUST acknowledge it.
Most conservatives fail this test, and I might point out sharply, that acknowledging this and recognizing the difference in experience would not impinge on yours or any other individuals’ conservatism in any way!
July 9, 2008 at 11:18 am
EnergyEngineer:
BTW, if you want to really understand how many in the Black community observe patriotism, go google ‘Juneteenth’.
It will be VERY instructive.
But mind you, DO NOT dismiss the history…
July 9, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Patriotism is hard to define for me it conjures up some ugliness, though I know many think of it as doing what you think is best for your country – it’s that standing by your country right or wrong attitude ,that seems so prevalent among those who call themselves patriot’s, that I find so put offish.
July 10, 2008 at 12:40 pm
cooper,
I think that doing what is best for your country maybe that is the best definition of patriotism I’ve seen.
That way, no one needs to erase or revise history, even if that history is ugly.
July 13, 2008 at 1:44 pm
@Keven B – Good questions!
@cooper – I agree with Keven B. Your definition is spot on. Always wise words from you…