Reclaiming a Word: Patriotic
According to Merriam-Webster Online:
Patriotism - : love for or devotion to one's country
Nationalism - :a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational
groups
First of all YAY!!! President Barack Hussein Obama - welcome and God bless you. There's no need for me to go into how happy I am today.
One of the plethora of things about which I'm happy is that now I feel I can reclaim the word "patriotic". Throughout the former administration "patriotic" felt like "nationalistic". In my opinion patriotic is good, nationalistic is bad.
Today, after Tuesday's glorious day - I think that President Obama (I love thinking, reading, hearing and saying those words) has made it OK to feel love, devotion and yes, pride in our country. I believe he is going to lead our country with dignity but not arrogance, with strength but not by bullying, with conviction but not by disrespecting other countries and cultures.
Although I already knew it, yesterday while he was giving his phenomenal inaugural speech it really hit me that he truly is *post-racial*. Think about it: his father was Black African, his mother was a white girl from Kansas, part of his life he grew up and went to school in a Muslim nation, and the rest of his youth was spent in Hawaii with Pan-Asian elements.
He is so the right man at the right time.
So, thanks to you Mr. President, I am again comfortable using the word "patriotic" - I now see it as love for my country without implying disdain or disrespect for other countries.
Labels: Happy Happy Joy Joy, History, Politics, President Obama
posted by Hilda @ 9:22 PM
7 Comments:
Glad you are "taking it back" -- never quite understood why you threw it away in the first place.
I explained it in this post.
I read your post...I'm just one of those poor beknighted fools who will root for my team even when we're behind. I don't leave the game just because we aren't winning this one.
And I can't give up on my country just because I may not care for who's in charge at a given time.
If you look at the leaders we've had just in my lifetime -- each and every one of them had something that I wasn't happy about. And yet I have unwavering faith in the people of this country to pull through -- whether because of or in spite of who is in charge.
And I'll keep on believing. And with hope...and hard work...we'll see this through.
Pearl writes:
"...I'm just one of those poor beknighted fools who will root for my team even when we're behind. I don't leave the game just because we aren't winning this one.
And I can't give up on my country just because I may not care for who's in charge at a given time..."
I think you need to read my post again. I never said I gave up on my country or that I didn't love it - I was specifically referring to the definition of the *word* "Patriotic".
As to "rooting for my team" - I won't justify or excuse the inexcusable just because the one doing something unjustifiable or inexcusable is my country. Because I love my country I *will* criticize it and demand rectification of the wrongdoing.
And because we live in this particular one, you can do it without fear of retribution.
Which is one of the reasons I love my country.
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