The Lone Veteran

The United States is home to a rather unique and varied lifestyle. Some people were born on American soil while others migrated here from terrible places. I didn’t understand the relevance of this until I joined the Army. Now I think that a much larger percentage of migrants are stronger supporters of American patriotism than most natural born United States citizens. 

In my family, patriotism was never mentioned and it still isn’t by anyone but me. The idea of expressing pride in the United States just didn’t happen. More to the point, I don’t remember anyone in my neighborhood ever showing any signs of patriotism either. The only places that displayed an American flag were government buildings like City Hall, libraries or schools. Nobody had a flag on their homes, cars or trucks. 

Representations of patriotism within my family are usually met with a sarcastic grin or laughter. The general belief is that anyone exhibiting beliefs like mine just don’t understand how bad the United States really is. My family feels like I don’t see how racist everybody is and how the deck is so stacked against us in this country.

I remember when there were racist laws that protected and promoted discrimination. I also remember when TV shows like 20/20 did real investigative journalism exposing actual, documented racial discrimination decades ago. Now we’ve had tons of minorities passing anti discrimination laws everywhere. A few incidents per year of (individual racism) in a country of over 300 million people doesn’t equate to America being a racist nation today.   

We complain about race, crime, food prices, police, neighborhood security and appearance but always stop short of solutions. Any solution that comes close to the mention of politics is shut down as quickly as possible. Maybe veterans based on our experiences, have come to understand a little more than our families. 

Veterans understand that when our families take their anti police positions, they’re actually supporting the criminals. If your family is like mine, they don’t understand that if you don’t like criminals, police and America, stop electing the same political team that governs your neighborhood. We keep electing the same political team decade after decade but keep expecting a different result.