Remembering Real Americans

I am not what you might call patriotic. There are several reasons for that: 1) perhaps due to my lack of competitiveness, I just can't get into the "we're the best" mentality, 2) I can't ignore the warts, which also puts a damper on the Rah Rah USA spirit, and 3) have you seen our politicians? Hard to take any kind of pride in that.

But I do have my own brand of 'patrioticness', shall we say. Maybe I don't think we're the best country in the world, or that our way is the only way, but I sure do like living here. And I haven't yet found a perfect country, so this is a pretty darn good one to be in. And, yes, we have our warts, but if we didn't, there wouldn't be much to love or care about. And, again, show me a country without a few warts. (But can we all get over our USA Superiority complex? Please?)

But most important, politicians don't really count. They aren't America, thank goodness. America is everyone else, including veterans. I recently went to a football game during Military Appreciation week, and I tell you what. I don't get teary-eyed about the good ole US of A much, but when I saw all of those veterans being honored, I was a bit weepy. Because these are the people who fought for me. I know, I know--they were fighting for their country. But "America" is a pretty abstract, shallow idea and I don't think it is enough to sustain anyone in a military setting long enough. Maybe it works for some people, but if there isn't something concrete behind it, it's not going to survive the first bullet whizzing by your head.

I think people who join the military are really doing it, not for Uncle Sam, but for a real uncle, aunt, mom and dad, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, and so on. They are doing it for the person in the grocery store who lets you go first, or the neighbor who rakes your leaves when they don't have to. They are doing it for the waitress at the diner who has absolutely no reason to be nice to you but is anyway. They do it for the kids who don't even know what war means yet, and the moms who have spent all day chasing 3 year olds and folding laundry and cleaning up messes and the dads who didn't get to see their little kid do that funny thing because they were at work earning money to pay for a house. I don't think people join the military for the politicians. I think they do it for the Ordinaries.

And so, thank you to all the veterans who are fighting for that America, because you are making a huge sacrifice. And thank you to their families, who make that sacrifice with them. Because it's people like you that make America worth something.