It hasn’t been today all that long, but it is September Eleventh or Nine/Eleven or Nine One One or whatever it is you wish to call it. Some have referred to it as Patriot Day. This really REALLY bothers me. I’ve been thinking about it off and on since last weekend when I turned a calendar over to September and saw it on the page. I think I figured out what bugs me:
Other holidays which celebrate people are a bit specific: Presidents Day, for example, (I know it as Presidents Day, others specifically celebrate it as Washington’s Birthday) is a holiday meant to honor a President (and as Presidents Day, a second one as well). Presidents are a select group of people. Veteran’s Day is meant to celebrate Veterans, those who have served this country. Again, a specific and clearly defined group. Martin Luther King Day celebrates one specific person, Memorial Day is meant for remembering those who died in service to our country. All of these are very clear cut groups of people who are celebrated or honored for something they have done.
And somehow tomorrow is Patriot Day.
I went and looked up ‘patriot’ so I could see for certain what it meant. Merriam and Webster say: one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests. Can someone explain to me how people dying in collapsing buildings makes them patriots? I mean, I have no issue with honoring and remember people who died that day, that isn’t my problem. My problem is that someone dying doesn’t automatically make them a patriot. By that token, if I love and support America, I can’t be a patriot because I’m still alive. I find this disturbing. People who went out of their way to do something (be President, serve their country) are being honored for having done so. People who happened to be in a particular place at a particularly unfortunate time are being honored for it. They did not go out of their way to join the Army or win an election. A lot of people died at Pearl Harbor just for being on those ships, much like the people in those towers died just for being there. We do not honor them, Americans blown up by someone from another country with an axe to grind. We do not honor those who died in another building that happened to get bombed: in Oklahoma City. They died just for going to work too. We do not honor those who died in a plane crash where nobody survived (there are many, pick one). What makes these people different? Special?
Perhaps this would not alarm me so if it weren’t for the fact that the word “patriot” is now supercharged with political meaning and used as a club to beat people into toeing a line.
I want to honor these people, and it is tragic what happened to them. Their families have to get up every day and go on without those people. Honoring them is important. So lay off the politics and the agendas and the hidden meanings and the partisanship. Let’s leave patriotism out of it and show a little respect.
2 Comments
Oh no! You’re against patriots? You must be one o’ them terra’ists!
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I hear you on the whole “Patriots’ Day” thing. To me, it feels like a manufactured Hallmark holiday. Any possible earnestness about the day itself feels cheapened because of that.
I think “Patriots Day” is a stupid name for it as well. I think the day should be marked (as Pearl Harbor is by flags at half staff)
However we do have to come up with a name for it. 9/11 day sounds redundant. Perhaps a National Day of Remembrance. Or something like that. You can remember 9/11 or Grandpa Joe. Your choice. With a moment of silence to pray, sleep count the specks on the ceiling or write a letter to dear Grandpa Joe. Your choice.
more to the point of the post, sadly being patriotic is now somehow a political statement. Being a patriot spans the aisle and should encompass everyone who loves their country.