a manifesto on patriotism

-by a bleeding heart liberal

so i bought one of those american-flag-patterned tin texas-star things and hung it on my front door. my sister was like, "whoa. where did you get that? it's so ... not you."

she's 100% correct. but like that johnson & johnson commercial, "having a baby changes everything."

i don't "do" patriotic. i don't own an american flag, although i think there's a plastic one lurking in the bottom of Princess's toy box. i had no red, white, and blue decorations prior to the tin star. fireworks scare me. i was never brave enough to snap the throw-down things with my fingers and memories of second-degree burns from those red hot smoking snakes make me bring my fingertips to my lips.

but i want Kitten to have lovely memories of holiday traditions. suddenly visions of blueberry-strawberry-cool-whip flag cakes on the cover of Family Circle magazine are dancing in my head.

WHAT WHAT!

does this mean i'm giving in and becoming someone i'm not? shedding my indie urban art major identity, succumbing to the influences of suburbia, mommyhood, and all things super wal-mart?

egats!

i mean, i can enjoy fireworks from afar, but as a general rule independence day totally annoys me. i associate it with--well, you know what i associate it with. i don't have to delineate the stereotype. suffice it to say, when i drive by a house with an american flag hanging from the porch and little red, white, and blue lights twinkling, i immediately presume "republican," perhaps with a little "NRA" thrown in there. too much misplaced nationalist superiority. the sort of people who eat freedom fries.

(i guess i just did delineate the stereotype.)

but why!

i've been thinking about this, and i'm angry. and if you associate "american flag" with one particular political party or another, you should be angry, too - no matter what your affiliation.

PRONOUNCEMENT: I AM HEREBY RECLAIMING INDEPENDENCE DAY ON BEHALF OF ALL AMERICANS, LEFT AND RIGHT.

i can be proud of this country. i am proud of this country. i refuse to raise my daughter in a country that i am not proud of, and this is where i live, so i will FIND things to be proud of if it KILLS me. and i will share them with her.

my grandfather served in the navy, and so does J's brother. my stepfather's brother died in vietnam, and my grandmother's husband served there as well. these people, along with innumerable other people in my life, have risked their lives for what they believe is best and right.

i can have pride in that without rushing to qualify or define what's "best and right." does it even matter? the truth is in the dark grey in-between abyss, and there's no knowing it as long as we're on this earthly plane. so let's just give it up, already. at least for one day.

i don't have to agree with the government or my neighbor or rush limbaugh or steven colbert or the bartender or you about what is best and right in order to have pride in this country.

i have pride that americans love our country enough to be passionate about political discourse - and pride that the right to political discourse is fundamental in this country. that's a big enough reason for every ONE of us to be flying a flag. i have pride:

• that i can be safe, happy, secure, and live on a friendly street without being upper-class
• that there is a free school system available to my daughter and her peers, even if i don't agree with all of the curriculum, because education starts at home
• that my daughter's voice is as important as her male counterparts, and that the voices of her minority counterparts are as important as hers
• that there is no war in my back yard
• that i am free to raise my children as i see fit, and attend whatever church i choose--or to choose no church at all
• that we are a melting pot and always have been, that christopher columbus was as foreign to this land and as devoid of the right paperwork as any current-day mexican immigrant, and that as a result my daughter's life will be enriched
• that i have fellow countrymen willing to sacrifice their lives for this country and my safety, even if we don't agree about the ways or means to achieve the goal--or even what the goal should be; they believe that they're protecting me - how can i not be thankful for that?

i'm fed up with the uprisers, the grass-movement agitators, the naysayers, the leftists, the liberals, all being labeled unpatriotic and anti-american. i'm tired of feeling alienated from the red, white and blue. so i'm reclaiming this independence day, because it's my holiday--and my country--too.

this should be a holiday of unification behind shared values. we are one in that we are all trying to do what we believe is best and right - even if we don't check the same box on the ballot. let's embrace that, yo.

i challenge everyone: show your children and your neighbors that differences don't matter and love of country is universal. be, simply, a patriotic american for one day, no matter what your voter registration card says - or even your green card, or your passport, because if you are standing on this soil then there is something here for you to be proud of.

reclaim the independence day of your childhood, when your heart swelled to bursting at the sound of the national anthem and the words "democrat" and "republican" weren't yet part of your budding vocabulary.

hang out a flag this month, forget what's in the news, and share with your children why you're proud of your country.