My mother was a sentimental woman when it came to family, God and the United States of America. She often shed tears of joy just thinking about such things. I tend to be a bit more stoic, more inclined to mask my emotions rather than allowing them to run freely like she did. As I have grown older, however, I have found myself slowly but surely becoming more and more willing to let the tears flow when I am moved by a beautiful piece of music, a stunning sunset, or the joyful innocence of a child. Of late I am particularly emotional when it comes to my beautiful country and future that I would like to see for it. 

I love America from sea to shining. It is a glorious place filled with wonders and incredible people. Just as with myself and my children and my students my love for this nation is deep and abiding but not without an understanding of its imperfections and areas of concern. As a human I know that I have made many mistakes, uttered hurtful words, done things that I later regretted. So too is the history of the United States. It is a nation founded by imperfect people who often had the good graces to admit to their fears that they had not formed a perfect nation. Like people, our political system was meant to evolve and so it has. 

I was talking with like minded people about the ways that some politicians have co-opted the idea of patriotism by using the Untied States flag and its colors of red, white and blue as ways to differentiate our political spectrum. They seem to believe that many of us are unworthy of flying flags in our yards or wearing the colors, but that is simply not true. 

I still get chills when I see our flag. I feel a flutter in my heart when everyone is singing the national anthem. I decorate my home for the Fourth of July and celebrate my good fortune with family and friends. Nonetheless, I am willing to admit that we have done wrong in the past and still have much work to do. My America is always the greatest when we acknowledge the need to embrace all people and insure that the freedoms we enjoy are distributed to everyone, not just those who think exactly the way we do. 

I see the United States of America as an ideal, a dream that is not yet complete and will not be until we are willing and able insure that every person is cherished without judgmental rules that make them outsiders. The real beauty of the United States lies in its inclusion of a cornucopia of ideas designed to insure equality and freedom and security for all who are born here or come here seeking a better life. Our diversity is and should always be our greatest feature as a nation. The vitality of our country is built on the melding of many cultures and ideas. 

The United States of America began with forward looking ideas that had never before been fully tested. Our forefathers understood that we would have to make changes as the world itself changed. We should beware of those who want to halt our progress or who even want to take us back to times that are no longer relevant. We must grow and change because when any human organism stops doing that it is stunted and sometimes even dies. 

I dare anyone to say that I am not an American patriot when I embrace new ideas that will revolutionize the way we do things. I believe that the time has come for us to think out of the box and make adjustments that provide hope and opportunity to people who are still struggling to feel part of the grand experiment that began over two hundred years ago. We should beware of anyone who insists that certain religions or morals should guide us while others should be shunned. Nationalization of such things flies in the face of freedom.

We need to wholeheartedly throw ourselves into focusing more on building a future oriented country and less on arguing about who is good and who is bad. Our support for children and young adults should be as dedicated as it is to those of us in our senior years. We need to listen to them as they express their needs and concerns rather than preaching to them about what we see as their flaws. Generation gaps don’t have to exist if we take the time to respect their thoughts, listening actively rather than developing arguments as they speak. 

I love this country warts and all. I know that we still have much work to do and that we would do well to speak of both our mistakes and our glorious moments. I love the people here who represent an amalgam of cultures from the world at large. I believe in the ideals of our Declaration of Independence and know that the only way we will ever achieve those goals is in honestly and respectfully discussing what has worked and what has gone terribly wrong. 

The United States of America is a kind of edifice. When we find a leak we would do better to make a major repair than simply patching the problems. Our door should be open to the plethora of ideas that we have. We must set labels aside and be willing to admit that no one group or belief can possibly represent our nation. We are not individual tribes vying for power, but instead one nation where everyone deserves liberty to be whomever they wish to be. 

I love my country and my little corner of it. Each day I awake with gratitude that I am here, but I know that if we are not careful our divisions will tear this land asunder. We should live under one flag of inclusion, not those of the past nor those that worship a single individual. The intention of our forefathers while not perfectly met has always been to be a haven of freedom for all. This is my American dream and it brings tears to my eyes when I consider how gloriously such a idea continues to move incrementally in the right direction. For me, there is no turning back. We still have much work to do and many adjustments to make.