ARE YOU PATRIOTIC

I am not trying to put anyone on the spot here it is more a rhetorical question, but it occurred to me last Friday prior to the Memorial Day Weekend. I am sure this weekend means different things to different people.
As with any military installation, colors are played each morning at 8:00 AM during flag raising and if there are ships in port as is always the case, each vessel has it's own color guard raising the respective flags. On base this means everyone comes to a stop whether walking or driving and faces the shipyard flag pole. Some place their hands over their hearts, some salute (military), some respectfully stand. And then there are others that as soon as they hear the "call to colors" a bugle playing five minutes before colors, hurriedly head for their destination or find a building to scamper into so they don't get caught having to show respect to the flag.
Yep, that is me. And as I heard the call to colors last Friday I remembered times past I did my share of scampering. Along with that came the thought this is the beginning of Memorial Day weekend and how far we seem to have come from when, I remember standing next to Mom at six years old watching the color guard pass in review during a parade, and seeing her crying. The sight of the flag or hearing the Star Spangled Banner always had my Mother tearing up with emotional patriotism.
As children my mother tried to instill the same patriotism in us. In those days it was easy people were more inclined to be proud of the USA and the Flag and the National Anthem. We seldom questioned our national leaders and our role in the world stage. Today it is different, not wrong as some would suggest, but different. We have learned to question our national feader's values and learned to question our role in the world. People have faced disillusion, some even heartbreak after not questioning for so many years, and we found ourselves torn by our own values and the desire to still believe in and be proud of the United States of America.
Will I ever have that six year old feeling again, probably not, am I a patriotic, yes, in a different way I no longer believe we are infallible, I no longer believe our leaders are flawless and unquestionableand I don't believe we have a right to assert our standards on the rest of the world. I may not always stand for Colors and tear up when I see the flag pass in review but you know something, the other day I was looking up at the flag and I felt this something stick in my throat.