Real Love of Country

Real love is a complicated thing. 

It isn’t always easy to spot.  How do you know two people are in love?  Well, you don’t always.  A ring doesn't really mean anything.  Kisses and hugs and hand holding can all be just for show.  Love isn’t always quiet or friendly either.  It can be restive and contrary, which is why ….

Love isn’t always easy to experience.  Real people aren’t perfect.  They don’t always do what you would do or would want them to do.  Real people smack when they eat and chew their shirt when they are nervous.  Real people have relatives and friends who will actively dislike, aggravate, and belittle you.  If you are going to love a real person, you have to be OK with imperfection.  You also have to be OK with frustration, disappointment, and disillusionment.  You also have to be OK with working hard to be frustrated, because …

Real love doesn’t come easy.  Real love isn’t won in a lottery or discovered under your pillow.  It isn’t discovered just anywhere.  You have to cultivate it.  Someone has to cultivate it.  Tomatoes don’t fall out of the sky and onto the shelves at your supermarket.  The same is true of love.  You have to work hard to experience it, which means …

True love is hard to identify, hard to experience, and hard to get.  So, how do you know I don’t love my country?  Because I don’t fly a flag in my yard?  Because I don’t stand up when veterans walk past in a parade?  Because I don’t say “God” when I say the pledge of allegiance?  Because I think This Land is Your Land should be our national anthem?  Because I don’t agree with every war and am happy to say so out loud?  Because I think America isn’t always exceptional, right, or a great example and shining beacon of democracy?  Because I think we have a thing or two to learn from people in other countries?  Because I think the Second Amendment of the Constitution had to do solely with raising and maintaining a militia and was only important when we had no standing army?  Because I support the rights of workers to join unions?  Because I don't think that America is defined by language, ethnicity, sexuality, or religion?  Because I don’t think tax is a dirty word?  Because I don’t think government is an even dirtier word?  Because I don’t feel the need to tell you that I love my country …

Even though I do.

So, how do you know I don't love my country.

That's actually pretty easy ... you don't.