September 11, 2012, marks the 11th anniversary of the atrocities committed against this nation by Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
I don’t really remember a whole lot of what happened on that day: teachers were crying, a very somber air throughout the building, and lots of classrooms—including mine—were watching the news. I also remember not really understanding what was going on; how could I? I was seven. Hearing and learning about the events of 9/11 have shaped the way I feel about my country, my flag, and the courageous men and women who fight.
Dictionary.com defines patriotism as “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.” To me, it means quietly standing and placing my hand over my heart during our national anthem. It means always saying the “Pledge of Allegiance,” even when no one else in the class is. It means finding ways to serve my country, here and abroad. It means staying updated on politics because not doing so is to abandon hope of a future for my country.
Those very simple things take almost no effort at all but are significant ways to show my dedication for this great country. It’s discouraging to see kids my age and younger, along with adults, talking during the national anthem or not saying the Pledge in school because no one else does. After 9/11, the people of the United States came together in newfound patriotic unity: wearing pins of support and flying American flags everywhere, along with saying the Pledge and standing during the national anthem.
My parents have instilled in me the importance of the great sacrifices that others have made and are making for me, and they have made me realize the huge amounts of freedom that I can take for granted—freedom to say what I want, freedom to worship as I want, freedom to work in whatever field I want to, and most importantly the freedom to be who I want to be. Those things are what make America so great.
There is a Facebook page out there right now called “Soldiers Aren’t Heroes.” When I look at the ignorance behind that page, it blows my mind. Beginning with the American Revolutionary War, brave men and women have fought and died to protect freedom whenever it is challenged. What the creator of that page doesn’t realize is that without those soldiers fighting, he or she doesn’t even have the right to create that page.
As I get older and start to think about what I want to do, I have found so many ways to serve my country directly and indirectly: I plan on graduating college and becoming an English teacher for a few years and then going into law. Along the way I’d like to also get into politics. My choices and decisions embody the American idea: the freedom to decide on something and then later change my choice.
Freedom is the power to determine one’s own action without restraint. It’s because of patriotism that we know what that freedom means.