Archived Thoughts for 01/29/06

Thoughts of a Rural Woman

Acts of Quiet Patriotism
by The Editor, Rebecca Brown

Denzel Washington & his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio,Texas (BAMC). This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims.

There are some buildings called Fisher Houses. These are hotels where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their loved one recuperates in the hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, & as you can imagine in this time of the War Against Terrorism, they are filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took out his checkbook & wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot.

The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story & want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts.

The question I have is: why do Hollywood types make front page news with their anti-everything American & Denzel Washington's patriotism doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the Local one in San Antonio?

For more photos see: http://community.webshots.com/album/371894296cZKgjw

Patriotism:
love of country & willingness to sacrifice for it. Patriotism denotes positive attitudes by individuals to their own civic or political community, to its culture, its members, & to its interests. The word is derived from the Latin "patria", fatherland, which has a much broader meaning than a geographical territory. Patriotism should not be confused with nationalism.

Adlai Stevenson:
"What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

As an immigrant & a naturalized citizen, my sense of patriotism has been transformed. It's not that I hate the country in which I came up, it's just that I didn't fit in there, & they were not shy about telling me so. So I left & made a life for myself among a nation of such diversity that I didn't stick out like a sore thumb, & while I've never been able to change my accent, I have acquired quite an amazing assortment of Americanese -- so much so that when I was last back in the “Old Country”, everyone chided me for my American accent! That's another reason I left, I hated being chided for things I couldn't change, like my myopia, my genes, my height, & the like.

Edith Cavell:
"I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."

For me patriotism comes from a personal choice to love the country in which I find myself & where I have been allowed, for the most part, to find out who I am. I did look around the world & applied for entry in at least six nations. Because of my association with the Anti-Apartheid Movement I was unwelcome.

G. K. Chesterton:
"‘My country, right or wrong’ is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’"

I like that religion is a separate entity -- it wasn't “back home” & that was another reason I didn't fit in. It didn't help either that they said I was one of “The People of the Bible”, & was the first one a huge & old ginnery had ever hired. Neither agnostic nor atheist though I be, what I am is entirely my own business... here.

I like that I can make my own fortune with little attention or constraints as to where I came from -- here I'm talking about “class”, lineage & genetic purity. As a war orphan I had none of any of that, & resented being reminded. So I left for the nation that had liberated me from Hitler's boot heel.

John F. Kennedy:
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

What would I do for my country? First of all, I must ask of myself what I'd do for my family -- I live in a nation that allows me to defend myself & my loved ones. Then I must ask what would I do for my neighbors? Especially those who devote themselves to protecting us from evil both within & outside our borders -- anything I can. Then my country? Walk as a self-assured citizen, always taking my vote seriously, learning what the issues are, paying my taxes & keeping the laws, & practising goodwill to all, except for those who would harm me & mine -- either human or otherwise -- although the critters in my neck of the woods usually dash off in the opposite direction when we meet.

Rebecca