4th of July Musings: Patriotism abroad

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country"
-John F. Kennedy

This is not one of my posts that will be interesting for its pictorial content. For those of you who have come to understand this space as being one of great visual beauty, perhaps it would be best if you returned in a few days when my efforts will be realigned around events that have actually happened in the real world, as opposed to merely being thoughts that I have...well...thought.

To travel abroad is to put yourself into situations in which, regardless of how you see it, you represent your country. This carries with it an awesome responsibility, one that most people either ignore, squander, or both. Each time that you meet someone from somewhere new, that person forms an impression of you that is intrinsically linked to where you are from. They don't know that since you are from a particular region, or that you grew up poor or rich or black or white or green or yellow or blue or Jewish or Catholic or Hindu or Jain or anything else that could have influenced you in your developing years, that you may not be a representative of where you are from as a whole. They simply see you as "that American/Aussie/Brit/South African/Indian that I met." And they are going to remember it.

As such, the label most frequently applied to me lately has been "American." This carries with it a great number of meanings. It can mean that you like Rock 'n' Roll and cheeseburgers and Coca-Cola. It can mean that you own a gun and carry it with you all of the time. It can mean that you support a government that is doing things that many people disagree with. Or absolutely none of these representations could speak for you. Unfortunately, as I've been roaming, more often than not, the above assumptions, coupled with any number of others, have made up the bulk of people's first impressions of me.

It is continually amazing to me how entitled people from other countries feel to tell me what they hate about my country, how it is being run poorly or what is wrong. Simply by learning that I am American, I find myself drawn into massively one-sided conversations regarding everything that the lecturee knows, knows to be inherently wrong with where I am from. Setting off on my travels, I knew from previous travel experience that I would encounter people such as these. Concurrently, I also knew that with each person that I met, I would have to make a choice: defend my place of origin, or agree with the antagonist that yes, perhaps some things about my country were imperfect. In the interest of peace and tranquility in any number of situations, I often chose to quietly listen to what a person felt the overwhelming (if not unsolicited) need to tell me about my country, and as often as not, I would let the comments go. Having gone through this exercise enough times that I wanted to scream, I began to wonder if I was in some small way, betraying my country. If I was being "unpatriotic."

So what is it to be a patriot? Webster's dictionary says:

A patriot is one who loves, supports, and defends ones country.

The writer George William Curtis said:

"A mans country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."

If you look through the tomes of literature dating back to the first organized governments, you will find more writing than you could possibly care to read about what is or is not patriotic. As often as not, the writing criticizes those who act patriotically. Goethe said "Patriotism ruins history."

So what to do when confronted on the issue of my country? Do I believe in "my country, right or wrong"? Of course not. Anyone who knows me is aware of my staunch opposition to any number of decisions which our government makes. In this, I believe that I am in good company...

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
-Edward R. Murrow

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President , or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public."
-Theodore Roosevelt

But do I dare agree with everyone, all those who would vilify America, people who as often as not have never been to the States, and will readily admit that I am one of the only people from there that they have ever met? Can I possibly just let these people continue talking at me, haranguing me, blaming me even, for the worlds problems? Am I a failure as a citizen, an American and a patriot if I remain silent? Isn't it sometimes just worthwhile to let an issue drop?

The answer is both yes and no. There are some attacks that simply do not warrant a response. When queried by a very drunk man (nationality is unimportant save that he was not from the US) about whether or not I believed that the victims of 9/11 "deserved it", I found it to be such an infuriating, stupid, asinine question that I was at a loss. My first instinct was to fight him, to unleash all of the fury and rage that boiled inside of me to wither his ignorance, to destroy his smug mien. But what good would it have done? After a very long moment, I instead chose to simply walk away from him. Fortunately, the other people sitting around him chose to do the same. I hope that he understood the point.

But that is only an extreme example. I have given up counting the times that, after answering the "where are you from" question, I get a knowing look and a "sorry" from the person. As often as not, the person responding in that fashion comes from a country about which I could find cause to say something similar. In fact, there is hardly any country on the planet about which one could not find some cause for criticism.

But I don't.

I'm Jewish, but when I meet a German I don't immediately write them off as "the country where the Nazi's came from." Yet when I meet people, I'm often instantly treated as a person "from the country who is at war with Iraq" or the country who "is destroying the environment" or the country who is "bullying and policing the world." Do I deny that parts of these statements are true? I do not. But I respond that my country is also the best functioning democracy on Earth. I say that my country provides freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, a government comprised of checks and balances, and that it is elected by the people, every time. When people respond "well we have that too" I can proudly say to them "yes, now you do, but my country was founded on those principles." Maybe those ideals are trampled upon from time to time, and perhaps it doesn't always work perfectly, but what is important is that overall, it does work.

So how does all of this add up? Does walking away from an insult to my country make me a coward, or less of a proud citizen? By sometimes firing back do I make things better or worse? Can I consider myself a patriot? To this question I've decided that my answer is: I am half of a patriot.

Living in Washington D.C. for the past five and a half years, I've often spent time at the Lincoln Memorial. In fact, I've probably spent more time there than any other single place in the District. In the Lincoln Memorial, on the left side of the building is a stone carving of the Gettysburg Address. I have read this enough times to have committed it to memory, and that memory has served me particularly well while I have been thinking about my status as an American abroad. Two lines of the address have always resonated with me, and I realize now that they, as perfectly as I can envision, describe what it is to be a patriot, anywhere. The lines read:

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."

To be patriot is not to argue and fight with people. It is not to squabble over semantics and dispute descriptions and work to confirm or deny stereotypes. I believe that a patriot is a person who cares enough to work to make their country better. It is a person who loves some aspect of where they are from, for whatever reason, to work towards the goal of making that place better, whatever "better" may mean to them. To be patriotic is to do something, not to say something. Later in the Gettysburg address is the following line:

"...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion..."

The last full measure of devotion. That in the end, the devoted were willing to die for their cause.

That sounds frightening. It sounds like the things that we hear from suicide bombers and religious radicals, that you would be willing to "die for their cause." But Abraham Lincoln was not talking about a suicide bomber, and he wasn't talking about religion. He was talking about beliefs, and was using the soldiers of the Civil War, both North and South, to demonstrate his point. He is not telling us to throw our own lives onto the great pyre of sacrifice that the Civil war had already exacted. He is saying that from their deaths we should resolve to finish the work that they began, work that they believed enough in to start in the first place. To want to improve where you are from is all well and good, but the patriot is the person who goes from wanting to make a change, to working to make a change.

"Love of country is like love of a woman - he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good."
-Felix Adler

Thus, to the question "are you a patriot" I have to answer that I have so far fulfilled only half of the requirements. I have a profound desire to see a change in my country, and I have an equally profound desire to be a part of that change. But I haven't started that work yet. I am still out here, still traveling and learning and figuring out why exactly it is even worth the time to make that difference. Soon, I will return to the United States to begin a period in my life during which I hope to learn how exactly I can fulfill the second obligation of a patriot. The obligation of making the change. It is my hope that in some small way due to whatever action I am capable of taking, people will no longer look at an American abroad as someone to be accused, or harassed or vilified, but as a person to be respected, not because of overwhelming might, or global dominance; but because of the wisdom, justice and acceptance that they embody.

I believe that it is immensely important for Americans to travel abroad, and to do so with humility, grace, tolerance and passion. There are people throughout the world who know of my homeland only by what they are exposed to through the media, our pop culture and third or fourth hand accounts. These flashes of our country are not enough to help anyone understand what it is that America represents, and it is hard to ignore the fact that some of America's greatest enemies are people who (at least I feel) completely misunderstand our values and ways of life. Diplomatic processes are not the way that impressions change. People meeting people is.

So perhaps in the end, I have begun to be a patriot. I have been meeting people from all over the world, and with each interaction, I have given them (what I hope) is a positive impression of my country, a better understanding of who we are, and a glimpse at our potential. Perhaps this has begun a change, if only in those very few people with whom I've had the opportunity to speak. If that is the case, and if I have been able to change their impressions about America for the better even a small amount, then I have at least provisionally earned my title as a patriot, and I intend to continue working to solidify that title as I carry on through life.

"The love of ones country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?"
-Pablo Casals

Next: Cambodia: A difficult reality