Patriotism

Eleanor Roosevelt's Book Of Common Sense Etiquette (1962)
photo obtained from https://pin.it/2ui32Dj

Five years ago, we gathered in a remote town in southern Texas to celebrate the latest group of Air Force officers to earn their wings. Our own pilot would head off in just a few short weeks to begin living his dream: flying an F-16. This dream began fourteen years earlier while working on a merit badge. All the preparation suddenly became very real that day, and we now find ourselves watching military news closely, especially fighter squadrons. This morning I awoke early to a text that simply said there’s been a crash on base. He was not involved and is safe at home right now. Following this text was a myriad of others from worried family members. I breathed a sigh of relief in hopes of calming my racing heart. My heart aches for the family and friends of this pilot – a feeling I have had several times over the last several weeks. Times like this bring reflection on why my son and his colleagues choose to serve. I believe it is patriotism.

Del Rio, Texas 1 July 2015

I come from a family of immigrants. I am the first in my paternal line born in the United States. I have two siblings born in a foreign country in the middle of the Pacific. My maternal ancestors were religious immigrants – some came on the Mayflower and the rest came to join the Saints. My beautiful bonus daughter is the child of Mexican immigrants. Half of my niece and nephew’s family are citizens of Kenya. I have thought a lot about what this heritage means to my own patriotism, and I realized the United States is a nation of immigrants.

Preparing to celebrate Independence Day this week, I spent some time studying what patriotism means for us today. The word patriotism comes from the Greek word patēr, which means father. It is also the root of the word patris which means country. Patriotism is rooted in the love of one’s country. Here in the United States, we celebrate our patriotism with parades, concerts, and flag-waving. There are often family gatherings, barbeques, and fireworks. While I enjoy these outward signs of patriotism, I do not believe they are patriotism.

For me, true patriotism is rooted in the ideals that motivated our Founding Fathers. They believed ALL men and women are equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I think of these great men every time I read Alma 43. “…[They] were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church. And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God” (Alma 43:45-46).

"Come Forth" by Walter Rane

In my study of patriotism this week, I ran across a quote I have returned to the last few mornings.

“Citizenship is a declaration of dependence upon one another, a recognition that only in unity is there strength and security that is moral as well as physical. The natural expression of that identification and that security is patriotism” (Robert K and Shirley Wilkes Thomas, “Declaration of Dependence: Teaching Patriotism in the Home,” Ensign, June 1976, emphasis added).

This year, as we commemorate the declaration made 244 years ago, unity and our dependence upon each other seem so relevant. To quote Sister Hinckley, “Oh, how we need each other!”1 Patriotism is friendship. It is taking the time to understand another’s story. It is true no matter what nation you are from. It is an end to the hostility.

There is no doubt our celebrations will be very different this year. May you take a moment this weekend to pause and think about the true patriotism our Founding Fathers envisioned. Today, and every day, I am grateful for my friendship with each of you and the things I have learned from you sharing your stories. I look forward to the time we can gather again. Until then, we will continue to gather in our hearts. Perhaps this is patriotism.

1 Virginia H. Pearce, ed., Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley (1999), 254–55.