Posted on 09/15/2016 11:14:39 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
We have gone way downhill from the epic truths of news giants like Edward R. Murrow, Jack Anderson, Helen Kirkpatrick, Walter Winchell, Katherine Graham, and other guiding luminaries of a long-dead, true journalism
Im a time traveler.
Ive come forward seventy years by extraordinary means.
You see, I got here the slow way-by living. And Im even actually older than those seventy years-and thats the extraordinary part, because almost everybody I ever knew is dead, missing, or has Alzheimers.
So what? You might ask. Whats it to me?
Well, because here I am, and Im come to you, as a harbinger of your future from your past. Because I remember; because Ive had time enough to see everything repeat itself over and again; because-therefore-I have perspective and knowledge. And I want to share it with you. See?
Remember this?
Patriotism is so important because it is a form of loyalty. It is a kind of natural affection. And one who is lacking in it always seems to us to be like one who is lacking in proper love and respect for his parents and the other members of his family.
Patriotism is the same sort of thing as the love of ones home. Anyone who has no attachment to the bit of ground where he was born or where he was brought up seems to us deficient in humanity.
Anyone whose heart and mind, therefore, are wholesome and right, will love his country just because it is his, because it stands for that part of the human race to which he belongs.
The same sense of loyalty should be felt also toward the city where we happen to live, to the school we attend, to the class in which we belong and to our family.
This does not mean that we should hate people who are not of our own family or school or city or nation. We can have for them the warmest feeling, but at the same time our own people should remain a little nearer to our hearts.
To despise anyone who is a foreigner or belongs to a different religion or is a member of another school or has a skin of another color from our own this shows a low and narrow mind.
Very few people understand properly how to be thoroughly patriotic to their own folks and not be hostile to other folks. Especially the ignorant and prejudiced do not understand this.
Everyone who pretends to any intelligence or culture at all should know that race prejudice, hatred of another nation or bitterness towards other people, simply because they belong to another group of the human race is a shameful thing.
Patriotism is a term that is often abused. Many people think they are not patriotic unless they want to make war on another nation. This is not patriotism; it is sheer vulgar ignorance.
True patriotism is shown by the utmost courtesy and respect for other nations, combined with an honest effort to make our own nation strong, prosperous and happy.
True patriotism is shown by obeying the laws of ones country, by respect to the flag, by reverence for its great heroes, and most of all by striving constantly to make ones own country the best, the most just and the most free country in the world.
Patriotism Dr. Frank Crane (18611928)
Patriotism... why conservatives never shoot first.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.