Fight For Your Country!

In response to Shannon Ciuk's question, "Do you believe that in order to be considered completely loyal to your country you have to be willing to physically fight for it?"...

     

     For many people today, this statement is entirely true. As someone mentioned in class today, the term patriotism has simply come to mean "super-patriotism." So, it is no longer acceptable to just mildly support your country, for you will not be viewed as a patriot. Instead, you must actively, physically, defend your country. In the minds of many, the only true patriots right now are the soldiers stationed overseas who gave up their life, closeness to family, and many of their freedoms just to be able to fight for what the government of this country says is correct. Obviously there are some flaws in this system of belief. Patriotism also can mean having the strength to protest the government and say what their doing is wrong, while often, soldiers just go along with what the government tells them to do without much choice. 

     It seems that today's notion of patriotism is very close to what pride of one's homeland was in the past. In medieval Europe, people willingly fought to defend their country from the encroaching powers of other nations or territories. Many people felt so strongly that they were willing to die for their country. But, why is it today that there are so many less people who are willing to physically fight for America than in the past? With improved technology and medical practice, one would think that more people might be willing to fight, for they have a much lower chance of dying than in the past. Today, being a soldier just seems to be a scary profession to many. In the past, it was expected of people to become a soldier so they did. Now, with more choice, people are simply choosing not to risk their life on missions that may or may not make a true difference. So, there is such a conundrum, for many people believe that in order to be a true patriot you must fight, though many are not willing to take such a risk.