Opinion: US family needs to remember what's important

Contrary to what some of you think, patriotism isn’t about who fires the largest firecracker.

I get weary of people who equate fireworks and flag waving with patriotism. It makes me want to break out in John Prine’s old tune, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore … They’re already overcrowded for your duty little war …” Sure, it’s a Vietnam War protest song from way back, but it still makes a mockery of the superficial gestures of patriotism we so often see around Independence Day.

It reminds me of another culture-war issue of the 1960s — the battle of the bumper stickers. The pro-war crowd sported “America: Love It or Leave It” while the anti-war folks countered with “America: Change It or Lose It.”

I still stand with that second bumper sticker. The first one demands loyalty, the second requires getting your hands dirty.

I see patriotism not at Fourth of July barbecues — which I love, by the way — but in Americans working to make our country a better place for everyone.

There’s no better way to show your love of country than to love your countrymen. If somebody didn’t say that before me, they should have, because if you ask me, that’s patriotism in its truest form.

Patriotism is not love of government. It’s the people our government is supposed to serve. It’s not love of our military, or the police, it’s those whom they protect and serve. It’s not some of us, it’s all of us.

Feel like breaking out in Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” yet? “… This land is my land, from California, to the New York islands …”

Of course, there are countrymen, and women like the late Anita Bryant, who prefer “God Bless America” to anything written by that commie drifter Guthrie, but I can’t help them. They pine for a far more homogeneous nation than we actually are.

America has a diverse identity, far more outspoken that it used to be — and for this old white boy from the South, I think that’s a good thing.

In a way, patriotism is like family. We might not enjoy each other’s company all the time, but hey, we’re family, so we put up with each other. And nobody had better mess with one of our own, because families are meant to stick together.

Seems to me the worst thing that can happen in a family is for someone to “disown” another family member, yet that seems to be happening in our political and culture divisions these days.

To which I say, dammit family USA, remember what’s really important! We have more that ties us together than tears us apart, so let’s quit acting like we hate each other.

We need to stop demonizing each other; it wouldn’t hurt to give each other the benefit of the doubt every now and then. We need to take care of our families, be good neighbors, work for the betterment of our hometown and give to the greater good, even when we don’t have to.

Show me someone doing all that and I’ll show you a patriot.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

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