Re: Wearing a Flag

Dear Friends,
It is amazing that "old fashioned patriotrism" is being disparaged as a motive 
for service to fellow human beings.  Honestly, it appears the hard truth is 
that precisely because we're Americans, we are despised by some parts of the 
world.  Those who cheer at the devastation witnessed by the world on Tuesday 
will not differentiate between those who listen to NPR and know "the real 
truth" or those who serve our country through the military or civil service.  
They see you as an American--not as an
individual.  If we continue to make generalizations about groups of people who 
do or do not have certain cultural or behavioral marks, we share in the 
terrorist mentality.  I feel a new awareness that cuts across regional, racial, 
cultural, and class lines, and that is because we are married to this land, 
because we are by nationality Americans, we have a different solidarity than 
ever before.  I am not suggesting we hunker down in "splendid isolationism", 
but instead, I am suggesting to my
students that we can now understand, as perhaps never before, and promote a new 
sympathy and righteous anger for people that have suffered because they are of 
a "group."  My students seem to understand this with their hearts, and now with 
their minds, that their outstretched hands must extend and grasp the hands of 
other humans.  My students who valiantly handed me their homework yesterday and 
today and said that they're not sure when they'll be back to class because they 
were being deployed to
their airforce or naval base have my full support--and gratitude.  My students 
who also lost somebody because of Tuesday's tragedy, also have my full 
sympathy.  Pretty soon, the ripples of love and duty will join and overwhelm 
the evil of a few.

With liberty and justice for ALL,
Jeanne McDonald
English Instructor
Waubonsee Community College
Sugar Grove, IL.



Rigolinr@aol.com wrote:

> Everyone,
> Cindy asked what I meant about listening to NPR.
> I thought I was being somewhat ironic, but perhaps I wasn't. Generally, the 
>men and women who work for our nation's police and fire departments display 
>what we might think of as an "old fashioned" patriotism. One may also observe 
>this phenomena in our military personnel (also known as Servicemen and 
>Servicewomen). It is partly due to their sense of patriotism that they are so 
>willing to provide the service they do. Had they been better educated, perhaps 
>they would not have chosen this path.
> Sincerely,
> Rachel Rigolino
> SUNY New Paltz