Happy Birthday
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
-- Carl Schurz, elaborating (with better phrasing, I think) on a sentiment earlier voiced by Stephen Decatur
It is easy, sometimes, to sneer at patriotism.
No, that's not quite correct. It is easy -- and some might say, appropriate -- to sneer at jingoism that calls itself patriotism.
A patriot loves his country, but not in the chauvinistic sense. A patriot keeps in mind that he is the country's caretaker. Its guardian.
Let me be even clearer. A patriot is his country's parent. And like any parent, the patriot corrects his charge when it errs.
Whatever her faults, the United States is one hell of a country. Here's to many more years of keeping her right.
-- Carl Schurz, elaborating (with better phrasing, I think) on a sentiment earlier voiced by Stephen Decatur
It is easy, sometimes, to sneer at patriotism.
No, that's not quite correct. It is easy -- and some might say, appropriate -- to sneer at jingoism that calls itself patriotism.
A patriot loves his country, but not in the chauvinistic sense. A patriot keeps in mind that he is the country's caretaker. Its guardian.
Let me be even clearer. A patriot is his country's parent. And like any parent, the patriot corrects his charge when it errs.
Whatever her faults, the United States is one hell of a country. Here's to many more years of keeping her right.