Sep 20, 2024 |
WLSU, I Love My Country
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulWLSU, I Love My Country
I remember putting that flag up and thinking, “I’m home.”
America was something about which I was religious. I wouldn’t have said that at the time. I would not have acknowledged that. But I could not only not fathom being anything other than American – I could not imagine that any other country could be as good as mine. To love my country was not just about affection or allegiance. To love America was to consciously believe that it was the greatest country on earth, that there had never been a country and never would be a country as powerful as smart, as resourceful, as successful, as free – as Good as the USA. To love my country meant to know what was wrong with other countries. To love my country was to feel sorry for people who weren’t American, who didn’t know what it was like to be so free, to be so successful, to save the world so many times.
The line between patriotism and nationalism is sometimes razor thin, isn’t it?
America was something about which I was religious. I wouldn’t have said that at the time. I would not have acknowledged that. But I could not only not fathom being anything other than American – I could not imagine that any other country could be as good as mine. To love my country was not just about affection or allegiance. To love America was to consciously believe that it was the greatest country on earth, that there had never been a country and never would be a country as powerful as smart, as resourceful, as successful, as free – as Good as the USA. To love my country meant to know what was wrong with other countries. To love my country was to feel sorry for people who weren’t American, who didn’t know what it was like to be so free, to be so successful, to save the world so many times.
The line between patriotism and nationalism is sometimes razor thin, isn’t it?