of national doubt
Andrew DeBerry
sophomore
As a student who went to Washington D.C. for spring break through the Center for Social Concerns, studying international humanitarianism could get discouraging. Issues seemed too vast and complicated to effect any sort of substantial change.
For example, there are thousands of sweatshop factories that could never be monitored. Plus, our nation has failed time and again to provide effective aid to any of the millions of people oppressed worldwide.
When crowds of Jews sailed to the United States during the Holocaust, how could we turn our backs and send them back home across the Atlantic?
These truths can cause the flame of American patriotism to quickly grow bleak. Doubts can overshadow a resolute, innocent pride in a nation once seeming steadfast in integrity. How can anyone have pride in a nation with such a history?
When patriotism seems impossible, then is exactly the time for national pride to rally. Patriotism in one's country is much more than a spirit fostered by a nation's demonstrated character traits and pride in what it has accomplished in the past.
Patriotism is belief in the potential goodness of a nation's future and the actions to make that good a reality. It is full confidence in citizens and in the positive force that they can have together. When the flame of nationalism grows dim, it is time to stoke its fires to forge a stronger, sturdier spirit of patriotism that is more resolute in its noble purposes.
Individuals in D.C. and elsewhere demonstrate this resilient nationalism. One D.C. teacher carries the message of peace to prominent universities and jails alike with a textbook of essays on peace that he himself has compiled. A bit of innovation and some action on his part has permanently impacted thousands of lives.
When all of a nation's character seems lost, then is the time to take renewed love in that nation and its people as this teacher has, for it is exactly this love that restores that nation's goodness.
Doing this shows what it means to have patriotism.
Andrew DeBerry
sophomore
Keough Hall
March 26, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, March 28, 2001
