Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

Honestly, no. And before anyone figuratively jumps down my throat let me explain.

The first entry of the Dictionary.com definition of “patriot” is “a person who loves, supports, and defends their country and its interests with devotion.”

If you were to dissect that definition into discernable criteria then I would only partially represent it. Then again, pieces of that criteria would also be subjective based on someone else’s values and logic.

If I were to take the word “country” out of the definition and replace it with “community” then I might fit more criteria.

Unfortunately, as things stand today, regardless of politics, our country is kind of fucked. We’re fortunate it isn’t worse (no matter what anyone else says) but we could be so much better.

All that being said, the second part of the prompt asks what being patriotic means to me. If I take THAT piece and run with it then I’m left with my own subjective values to define patriotism within the realm of ‘me’.

For me, just “sticking to my values” isn’t enough. I would want to look at the world around me and see that what I’m doing is having a positive impact. To recognize that it isn’t just me in this world, and that while I might be walking a different path in life, I won’t get through life alone. None of us will. We don’t think about it enough that someone, somewhere designed the smartphone I’m using to type this up. Someone else had to make it. Yet another person had to participate in its delivery. When I think about things from that perspective, I don’t automatically apply the word “patriotism” to it but it still feels like that’s what it should be. Love and support the people around you, and the people around them, and so on.