Religious Education

TOPIC: Ethics/Social Justice
AGE: 14-18 years, Gr. 9-12

Patriotism Today

by Jason Lydon and Erin Goldberger
from the Fall 2001 edition of Synapse, a newspaper for Unitarian Universalist youth

Jason Lydon:

I pledge allegiance to the flag and… you know the rest of it. On the first day of first grade I was instructed to learn this patriotic psalm, as were about a million other kids in this country. As we were taught we were also told to put our right hands over our hearts, and that was it. No explanation, it was just what we would do every morning for the next twelve years.

Lately all we see across our towns and on the bumpers of cars and on backpacks is blatant patriotic propaganda. Before September 11th only veterans and a few other people had bumper stickers of U.S. flags or God Bless America. Now flags hang out of all of the houses on North Pleasant street in Amherst, Massachusetts and about sixty per cent of all cars have patriotic stickers on them. Is this surge of national pride due to a celebration of our country, or is it just a reactionary celebration of revenge? As for me, I continue to drive around with my anti-violence, anti government bumper stickers, welcoming the honks and finger gestures I receive on the way.

The rise of superficial patriotism must raise the question, what are we getting ready for, war or a football game? People parade around with hoots of “USA! USA! USA!” as though we were at a high school pep rally before the homecoming game. People seem to forget that war means loss of life.

We suffered a great tragedy on September 11th; there is no denying that. Our loss and tragedy, however, does not give us the right to inflict a similar loss of life upon another nation. As our country sponsors a war upon a people, where more than half of its citizens have little to no rights, our fellow country people are running around demanding more so called justice.

It is our duty as Young Religious Unitarian Universalists to stand up, now more than ever, for our belief in nonviolence and commitment to affirming the inherent worth and dignity of all people. We need to raise our voices as one, louder than all the war seeking cheerleaders, and demand an end to the masochistic rape of our beautiful earth and Her citizens.

Erin Goldberger:

I have never been much of a patriot. Even as the events of September 11th ordered thousands to buy flags and red, white and blue attire, I still wasn’t proud to be an American. I was sad to be an American and sympathized with the many countries that have felt the lashing of an attack like I had just felt for the first time, the countries I never gave much thought to before.

As I heard more stories of missing neighbors, had numerous discussions in history class, and heard many of my peers repeatedly saying, "nuke ‘em”," I was just pushing my feelings further back. Did I have to want revenge to be patriotic? After a week of this, I was glad to know that a retreat with my Youth Group would take some of my grief away.

While listening to Mike’s CD mixes and getting lost, it was a usual van ride, except for the fact that we were all pretending like nothing happened that Tuesday. It was like we all knew the same secret, but no one wanted to gossip about it. If the tragedy was brought up at all, it was shunned away just as fast.

The retreat didn’t last long enough, and soon we would have to go home to reality, where our country had been attacked and there were no games of Wink to help us vent. On the way home in the van there was a massive amount of motorcycles on the other side of the highway. A gang!? No, it was not a gang, it was a rally. The longer we drove, the more we saw, they stretched for miles. There were so many; little ones, big ones, red ones, blue ones. (I knew that Dr. Seuss would come in handy.) They all had waving flags on the back of them too, forming a sea of flags, but this time it didn’t bother me.

We noticed cars parked to watch the endless stream of the cycles. We parked too and soon we were standing there, leaning over the concrete barrier, finally understanding what it means to be patriotic. As the beeps of the motorcycles rang through our ears, and the peace signs flashed, I realized you don’t have to agree with or do everything your country decides to do, to be patriotic. That day on the highway, standing with people I can relate to most, it made me realize that with strength and hope like this, I wasn’t sad to be an American any more.

Jason Lydon is a former GA Youth Caucus “Mr. HUUPER” and his favorite word is “respect.”

Erin Goldberger is a member of the youth group at the Summit, NJ UU Church.