A Life Without Patriotism

A meaningful reflection on why patriotism still matters.     
     Sometimes I wonder what our country would be like with no patriotism. Could we really be a country if we had no one who loved it, no one who was willing to make ultimate sacrifices to defend it?   I believe without patriotism there would be no America.
    To be honest I don’t know a lot about patriots or about war because I’m only thirteen. I’ve only read about the Vietnam War in a fictional book called Cracker and sometimes I hear news about Afghanistan and Iraq. I do, however, have my grandfather John, who we like to call Poppy. Poppy was drafted into the Army. He fought in the Vietnam War for a couple of years, but this is the thing that stands out. He was setting an example of patriotism for his entire family and community. Later his son Joe, my uncle, developed a love for flying.  Later in Joe’s life he took that love into The United States Air Force where he serves our country.  Now Joe, like his father, is setting an example of patriotism for me and the next generation. Without spreading the inspiration of patriotism, without people who love and are willing to defend our country, there soon couldn’t be an America.
      Patriotism sometimes results in the deaths of the people who loved their country. In a website I found it listed thousands of people who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. So many people have died for our country’s safety and I don’t think people recognize this as much. Every one of these war hero’s names had written right next to it “Don’t let the memory of them drift away.”  Anyone, dead or alive who cared about their country’s freedom is a patriot.
     Once I absorbed all of this information, I felt ashamed I have never really thought that much about how much people give for our county. So many hours of tiring work, so many sacrifices they made, and so many brave people there were who gave their life to their country. Once you take the time to really think and read about patriots, then you could be one too.