We won the war - but we lost the peace. Following the return of the hostages from Iran, national attention was brought to focus by the media on the bitterness of tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans. Their sad homecoming from the most unpopular war in history to an indifferent public left wounds of the spirit perhaps as ugly as those of the flesh of patients in VA hospitals. Vietnam veterans decorated with the medals of heroism, consigned to spend their lives in wheelchairs as helpless paraplegics, do not lightly return their medals as one last defiant act against government policies they could never understand. Patriotism is, after all, a deep, prideful love of one's father country, a thankful appreciation for the freedoms and liberties bought at such a dear cost by the tens of thousands who paid the most horrible of prices.
Patriotism is love of country.
But, like the love within a tight-knit family, a completely patriotic American can become very, very angry at trends within his country. Parents, who dearly love their children, become angry when they witness the child making a decision they know will harm him. Patriotism can never be blind flag waving, a flag-shrouded refusal to admit family difficulties, a blind determination to remain studiously ignorant of deep family sicknesses. Most Americans have forgotten how to sacrifice. Our greatest sickness is our stubborn refusal to acknowledge our own moral and spiritual poverty.