A Word About Patriotism

John Quincy Adams: “Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”
 
Anyone who knows me knows that I am extremely patriotic. I love America. I come from a long line of military men, and also spent my high school years as part of the ROTC. I truly believe that God preserved this land for the freedoms that we enjoy. And I also believe that we are losing these freedoms due to complete and total laziness as well as pride and the ever-present "all about me" attitude that seems to be permeating our society. When did this feeling of entitlement start? When did we start believing that OTHER people should sacrifice so that we don't have to? That we DESERVE things like houses, cars, iPhones, healthcare (and any form of birth control we can think of!), food, clothes, etc...without actually working for it? 

I remember having a heated conversation with my little sister. She was moving out and wanted to take my DVD player with her. I had another one, so the nice thing would have been to let her have it, right? And maybe I would have, until she said, "...you should give it to me because you have so much and I have so little.". I don't begrudge her thought process. What infuriates me is this feeling that because I worked hard and had more than her, that I was in some way obligated to give her my things so that we could be "even". How did we get here? 

Grover Cleveland: “A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.”

At church on Sunday, we started to sing a hymn that I have heard about a million times. But this time, I let the words fill my soul and I got to a point that I was so emotional, I couldn't even finish singing. And no...it wasn't because I was overwhelmed with love and pride for my country. I was devastated to realize how much we have lost.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
  
Have you stopped to read these words lately? The founders of this nation sacrificed money, land, status, and even their lives to grant us the freedoms we take for granted. But that isn't what made me cry either. 

It started in the second verse "America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw. Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law." We have turned away from a God that can mend our flaws. Instead of humility, our society promotes pride. We see flaws as human nature and instead of trying to be better, we accept and justify them. Self-control seems to be an outdated idea. Why control the natural man? Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die! right?

The third verse was poignant for me too. Do we have any heroes left that love the country more than themselves? Do we love mercy and righteousness more than life? Are there any political leaders (who supposedly represent the people) left that don't let personal interests and groups control them?

May God refine us until all of our successes are noble and until we recognize that every gain we have comes from Him. 

The truth is, I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how to do anything beyond just loving my own kids and teaching them what it means to be an American and how to be refined by a loving Father in Heaven who knows what is hiding behind our natural selves. I want them to know how important it is to fight for what is right, even when it isn't popular (and getting less popular every day, it seems!). And yes, I DO believe that there is such a thing as a definitive and ultimate right and wrong, even though it may not be politically correct to say so. 

We live in an amazing country and we are letting our values and beliefs be thrown to the wolves. We are being divided by the minority and convinced that we are the ones who need to change and that our beliefs are "backward" and "old school". 

In my church, we have something called Articles of Faith that outline our fundamental beliefs. Number 11 of 13 says, "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." You can view all 13 here. 
I wholeheartedly believe that we can allow people to have their own beliefs, without being convinced that in order to support them, we have to give up our own. We can be loving and kind and charitable and still voice our own views. Maybe by returning to our own passionate beliefs, whatever they may be, can America return to a place of freedom, hard work and tolerance.