Patriotism Essay

Being a true patriot doesn’t have to be defined by your support for a certain presidential

candidate or the military, but it’s more of wanting to better your country, fight for equality, and

recognize the faults being made. After the events of 9/11, people may view being a patriot

differently when seeing how people from all over came together to help others and the city, it

was a moment of compassion and selflessness. Patriotism is a word that has many different

meanings to many different people, but it’s more than just the definition of vigorous support for

one’s country.

A true patriot is someone who is willing to help and make a difference in their

community and or country. An example of this was shown during the 9/11 attacks, people were

trying to flee the city to get to safety and there weren’t enough coast guard boats, so civilians

from nearby came on their own boats to take people off the island. This put themselves at risk

but they made that sacrifice to help other people and their country when experiencing this

disaster. A day of such tragedy happened to show one of the best examples of true patriotism. In

addition, another way to show your patriotism by trying to make a difference is

protesting/fighting for equality. People from all around came together to fight for things such as

BLM, Stop Asian Hate, and pro choice movements. Understanding that these people may not

love their country at the moment since it’s sad that we still have to protest these things, but by

fighting for what you believe in, is what makes you patriotic. The people attending these protests

want equality, freedom, peace, and love. In the Declaration of Independence it states, “all men

are created equal”, we must fight until this statement is true. Soldiers have fought for our

freedom and independence for decades but that doesn’t mean we can’t still try to better our

country.
 On the other hand, some people may believe the word patriotism can only be defined by

flying the American flag, unconditionally supporting the government, and doing huge things, so

basically chauvinism, while in my opinion, that’s not what it is. In an article I read once the

author claimed that seeing the flag after 9/11 was endearing but later on it started to symbolize

having to stand behind all government policies, when she may not agree with everything they do.

People having different opinions is a good thing though, it allows us to grow and see things at

different points of view. Being a patriot can be as simple as making donations such as after

Hurricane Katrina, tons of people all around the world made charitable donations. Small things

like donating can make a big impact, no matter the size, your support is appreciated.

There are many different ways to express patriotism, therefore there’s no right or wrong

way to be a patriot. It is an important aspect of one’s life and it’s something you develop

overtime while you shape your own thoughts, even if that’s just involving yourself and

celebrating with your community. No matter who you are, or what you stand for, being patriotic

is always something one can do.