The red, white, and blue. The flying flag of freedom. The symbol of patriotism.
At least, that’s how the media makes patriotism look like. News outlets and the more stereotypical patriots of America (you know, the one’s with a bulging beer belly thats streaked with the colors of our flag and an ice cold beer in hand) somehow have made that the definition of loving your country and showing your faithfulness for it. And that’s completely okay. You love your country and you’re proud of it? Then shout it out.
But what happens to the remaining people who maybe stay silent during the Pledge of Allegiance? Or people who maybe aren’t as loud and proud about it? Do we label them as “haters of freedom”? “Traitors”? I say no. Yet somehow we’ve made that out to be the undeserving Americans “who need to get out the country if they’re not going to show some damn respect.”
This is for the people who have just maybe disagreed with our Pledge or how America is run: you’re not haters of freedom or whatever else they want to call you. You see flaws in how our country is being run and that’s okay. Hell, you just don’t follow blindly maybe. Maybe you don’t even recite the Pledge because you don’t believe in one statement in it or you don’t chant “U.S.A.” at every god given moment. It doesn’t mean that those people hate their country or love it any less than you do. There are flaws in our country and how it was founded, and one of the greatest things about living in America is the freedom of speech we are given to speak up about it. If you want to stand up on your own two feet and grin ear to ear while shouting out every word of the Pledge then go for it. If you want to politely sit down during it out of your own personal choice, then go for it! That’s the beauty of America. No one should tell you how you love your country is wrong in any way except if it comes off as discriminatory.
Patriotism is not standing in the back of your pickup truck with sparklers attached to it while “Red, White, and Blue” blares from your speakers. Next time you sit down during the pledge or point a flaw in America, do not let those stereotypes and media define you as someone who hates your own country. No one defines it better than yourself because last time I checked, the standards for it do not exist.
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