I Hate Patriot Day

In the current climate of our country, I hate looking at the calendar and seeing September 11 being marked as "Patriot Day". It makes my stomach churn when I think of the connotation of that phrase in this day and age, and how much it runs counter to the ideals of so many people who proudly called themselves patriots in past times.

These days, too many people assert that being truly patriotic means to not question and not criticize what our leaders do, and most frighteningly, not restrict what they can do in the name of protecting and advancing our supposed interests. In order to be patriotic today, you must view our country and our leaders as infallible. You must blindly accept that because some 230 years ago we fought a war for our own freedom, every war that we fight today has that same virtuous cause.

I happen to love this country a lot. It will surprise a lot of people, but for many years I wrestled with the question of whether to join the military; I felt a very strong call to do so. I don't like a lot of the things our country does or the things that a lot of people in it say and do, but I also see much good here that I love. It is my home, and to me it is worth fighting to change the things I don't like to make it a better place.

I consider myself to be very patriotic, and I bristle at accusations that because I do question, I do criticize, and I don't blindly trust, that I am less of an American or an enemy of our country.

I saw an article in the Post Gazette today about teaching children who were very young six years ago about the context and meaning behind the 9/11 attacks. I read it with great interest, but was disappointed that it did not actually address what schools or teachers planned to discuss with students. So what will we teach our children? Will we talk with them about how our actions in other parts of the world are causing friction and increasing instability? Will we explain how our refusal to understand other groups' cultures and belief systems, and work within those contexts, was tantamount to playing a dangerous game of chicken that we lost on that ugly day? Will they get an inkling that the almost unrestricted detainment of "enemy combatants" with little or no rights are the same tactics employed by governments that Americans shed blood to overcome?

Sadly, I doubt it. Somehow I think it gets boiled down to, "Bad guys killed 2,000 innocent people."