What Patriotism Means to Me, by Sydney Brinkley
To me, patriotism is more than just being proud of our country. It is truly respecting the values of our nation, appreciating our country, knowing what our flag stands for, and being thankful for our military who risk their lives every day for our freedom. Patriotism is knowing the history of our country, and viewing our country differently because of it. It is also feeling at home where we live and loving our nation. Patriotism is standing up for what we believe in and standing up for our country. A classic example of Patriotism is voting, by voting we show that we care about who is in charge of our country, state, city, etc. As important as politics are when it comes to patriotism we still need to show that we respect others opinions even though ours might be different, and overall spread love and not hate.
Spreading love and not hate is probably one of the most important examples of patriotism. Simply because it means we come together as one nation, and love one another because of who we are, not our views when it comes to politics or even everyday life. That’s one of the things our country seems to be struggling with right now. Even though it’s very understandable to not agree with someone else's views when it comes to politics. We should all respect one another's opinion no matter what, which is why we need more patriotism in our country to bring everybody together despite each other's opinions of who you are or what you believe in. If we do not respect each other's opinion there is likely more of a chance our country will continue to fall apart and people will be divided.
The path our country is going down does not seem to be healthy for us or our great country. The United States has so much potential to help other countries, but at the same time so much to lose if we continue to fall apart and become divided like we are now. To me, the most important example of patriotism is coming together and loving our friends and family as one human race. Overall patriotism is knowing the background of our country, loving one another for who we are, and loving our country. To me, patriotism means having compassion towards the U.S., and simply being an American.