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Sep. 18th, 2001 06:48 pmWearing flags does not make one patriotic. Patriotism is an inner sense. Patriotism is the love of ones country.
A lot of people mistake one for the other. People who up until last week didnt give a thought to their country or their communities have suddenly decided that wearing a flag is all they need to do to be a patriot. They (a great many of them is my sense) think that this is enough. Wearing an American flag t-shirt, draping a flag on your car, this is showing support, and this, somehow is positive action. This is easy, and that which is easy is seldom worth-while. If you want to do something for your country, work to make your community a better place. If enough communities become better places, then whole cities can, if whole cities can, than whole states can, and, if all the states are better places, the nation becomes a better place. Volunteer. Volunteer to help the homeless, senior citizens, children, take your pick, but VOLUNTEER. I recognize this is MUCH harder than simply putting on an American flag t-shirt, but if we are going to make a positive change, it will take effort.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
When Tom Paine wrote that, our country faced a great crisis, a crisis that would determine whether or not it would be stillborn. We face a similar crisis now, but it is a crisis of identity. It is a crisis that will determine whether or not our way of life can survive. Not because I believe that terrorists have the means to destroy our way of life, but because it is possible that we will be asked to give up too much liberty to fight terrorism. We cannot allow this to happen. We cannot allow the actions of a few madmen, however tragic their outcome, to divert us from the path of liberty. We cannot willingly relinquish the rights so many people have fought and died to protect. We cannot be stampeded into giving up what is so dear to us, what makes America what it is. If we do that, then the terrorists have won, and we will have suffered a greater loss than the tragic loss of life we have already sustained. America will not be destroyed, America will not be defeated, but ALL of us must insure that the America that survives is the America where the light of liberty still shines with a brightness that can illuminate the world.
A lot of people mistake one for the other. People who up until last week didnt give a thought to their country or their communities have suddenly decided that wearing a flag is all they need to do to be a patriot. They (a great many of them is my sense) think that this is enough. Wearing an American flag t-shirt, draping a flag on your car, this is showing support, and this, somehow is positive action. This is easy, and that which is easy is seldom worth-while. If you want to do something for your country, work to make your community a better place. If enough communities become better places, then whole cities can, if whole cities can, than whole states can, and, if all the states are better places, the nation becomes a better place. Volunteer. Volunteer to help the homeless, senior citizens, children, take your pick, but VOLUNTEER. I recognize this is MUCH harder than simply putting on an American flag t-shirt, but if we are going to make a positive change, it will take effort.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
When Tom Paine wrote that, our country faced a great crisis, a crisis that would determine whether or not it would be stillborn. We face a similar crisis now, but it is a crisis of identity. It is a crisis that will determine whether or not our way of life can survive. Not because I believe that terrorists have the means to destroy our way of life, but because it is possible that we will be asked to give up too much liberty to fight terrorism. We cannot allow this to happen. We cannot allow the actions of a few madmen, however tragic their outcome, to divert us from the path of liberty. We cannot willingly relinquish the rights so many people have fought and died to protect. We cannot be stampeded into giving up what is so dear to us, what makes America what it is. If we do that, then the terrorists have won, and we will have suffered a greater loss than the tragic loss of life we have already sustained. America will not be destroyed, America will not be defeated, but ALL of us must insure that the America that survives is the America where the light of liberty still shines with a brightness that can illuminate the world.