Today’s post for Blue Star Families is going to be on Patriotism. As a Military spouse I often feel like I am surrounded by it. It is everywhere and it is nice to see.
I have always considered myself a patriotic person. I have always thought of it as a love for your country going further than just putting up red, white and blue things and singing patriotic songs. Since becoming a Military spouse I have realized patriotism is a lot more than that. It is giving up something you love for your country, it is standing by your soldier as he has to go on yet another deployment, it is supporting other Military spouses and it is remembering where our country has been and who we are today. I guess you can say my patriotism has grown, how can it not?
When I look around me at the general public I see a lot of patriotism. I see it on days such as Memorial Day or the 4th of July but I also see it other times of the year. I think most people in the US love the US even if they have different religious or political beliefs. Even if what they think would help America looks different than what I would think would help America. I am not sure this has changed over the years. I do think that personal sacrifice has. It used to be that almost every man in this country served in the Military. It is not that way anymore although we still have battles to fight.
I don’t expect everyone to join the Military but what has happened because of that is that people no longer have a personal connection to the Military. This can make it easy to for people to forget what the Military does or has to give up. Personally speaking I have been blessed to have the support of friends and family even if Ben is the closest person they know who serves. People are praying for us and tell us so. They thank us and make us feel like what we are doing is not in vain.
As a Military spouse I just want the American public to remember that we still are involved in a war. It has not gone away just because it is coming to an end. Deployments are still happening and can be just as difficult as they were a few years ago. Plus we do not know what the future holds. As things heat up in other parts of the world I don’t see deployments ending anytime soon . I guess we have to see what happens with that.
How do you see patriotism? What does it mean to you to be a patriotic American?
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That is a beautiful photo, Julie, and beautiful thoughts as always! 🙂