As Independence Day dawns, many will hang a flag on their front porch, just as they did on Memorial Day, Flag Day, 9/11 and the day after Osama bin Laden was killed.
It’s funny how dates on a calendar bring out the “patriot” in all of us.
I was at Wal-Mart bright and early the day after 9/11 and bought a new 3-by-5 flag for $9.99. I’ve flown it nearly every day since.
But it took me almost five years after 9/11 to realize that a flag on my porch and a magnet on my car don’t make me a patriot. It was only when I saw my first gold star that I started to understand the true meaning of patriotism.
Most people don’t realize a gold star worn by an individual means their son, daughter, spouse, brother or sister gave their life protecting our freedom.
That gold star woke me up to the fact that true patriots are the troops serving our country, both home and abroad.
True patriots are their families, who spend endless days and nights alone, worrying or grieving for a loved one who is not by their side, and may never be coming home.
True patriots are the ones caring for the young men and women who come home from war maimed or with injuries no one can see.
Patriots are those who give to their country and ask for nothing in return.
Patriots are people like Kathy and Brooke, who sew sleeping bag liners for the troops in Afghanistan, the men and women who have to sleep with their bottled water so it won’t be frozen in the morning.
Flasher, Pi-Man, Fred, Road Dog, Swampfox, Rat and Squeak ride with the Colorado Patriot Guard Riders. They stand in flag lines, rain or snow, heat and cold, to honor the flag-draped caskets of our fallen heroes. They stand in the same flag lines as our troops depart for “over there,” and they are there to welcome them home. They serve ice cream to veterans at the VA hospital once a month. They raise money for scholarships for children of the fallen and help build homes for wounded warriors. They live for the troops who serve our country and their families.
True patriots are there to hold the hand of a mother as she texts her staff sergeant in heaven to wish him a happy birthday. True patriots know the feeling of inadequacy as they shake the hand of a father who is so heavy with grief at the loss of his specialist he can hardly stand. True patriots realize there is no problem in their lives that measures up to that of the pregnant wife of a staff sergeant serving in Iraq who is alone when she learns her unborn child likely will not survive.
There are many ways each of us can show pride for our country and support our troops. You don’t have to know a Gold Star Family, and it doesn’t cost a dime. Since strangers are fighting and dying for you, perhaps you could go out of your way to be kind to a stranger you meet on the street.
True patriots don’t care whether the Broncos win or lose; they spend their Sundays volunteering at a shelter for abused women or helping an elderly man clean his house. They volunteer at schools, hospices and nursing homes. They pick up trash from the sidewalk. They mentor children who have no positive role model.
True patriots know that anything they do pales in comparison to the efforts and sacrifices of our troops, but they do what they can anyway.
So go ahead and put a fresh new flag on your porch and a shiny new magnet on your car. Then, please, go out and be an American worth dying for.
Lorraine Melgosa (lorrainemelgosa@yahoo.com) of Manzanola is a self-employed farmer and owner of the Wellington Carriage Company.
