The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-12

but we are told to pity those SO un- fortunate as to live in another coun- try The fashions decree that we be patriotic In the colors we choose and in the pins we wear. ''In the last few months the swing has been from an embarrassed filtration with every form of unAmericanism to an aggressive nationalism. from the hammer and sickle, back to the Stars and Stripes, from How wrong my country is, to My country. right or wrong"
 WE PROTEST
 But you and I, we claim that we have always loved our country. we do not need a birth of patriotism. We love our country and we are deeply grateful for its admirable form of government which has given 8 haven and happiness to so many unfortunates. We condemned the admirers of the Soviet style. We took no stock in the "intellectuals' :" barrage of un-American propagan- da. We do not have to be told that all the stock-in-trade rubbish of these chumps was not really true. that they didn't really mean the mean things. We didn't believe them anyhow. And even now we are not completely convinced of their good faith as they brandish their patriotism in their retreat from unfaithfulness.
 WHY WE LOVE OUR COUNTRY
 Father Daniel A. Lord, the bril- liant head of the Sodality Union has drawn from a preface of thought similar to the above a booklet entitled, Here's Why We Love Our Country" Many of his paragraphs are worth our attention.
 When I say I love my country, l am, I hope, saying 1t as 8 Catho- Hc should say 1t. i. 7. I love 1t because 1t was given to me by God, as my family was given to me. love 1t with a love that expresses itself not merely in learning and singing loudly all the verses of The Star Spangled Banner or in lifting my hand to dash away the joyous tears as the flag goes by. It's love that makes me anxious to serve my country in way that will benefit 1t; love that makes me grateful for what my country has done for me; love that makes me hope that my country will be honorable, just, decent, merciful, ChriStlike: a love that makes me ask of my country the same things I ask of my fam fly
 DECATUR'S WRONG
 go when I read the patriots plat form which Stephen Decatur laid down and which the Chicago Trib- une adopted and has retained, My country, in her dealings with other nations, may she always be right: but right or wrong, my country I am compelled to say, Just minute. How do you mean that?' love my father. But if my father turned murderer, I'd not say, Go ahead, dad, I am with you I'd still love him. I'd do all in my power to turn him from the horrible path he had
 
 chosen. But I certainly would not pick up a dagger and say, He's my dadj and if he's going to perform q murder it's up to me to help him
 T love my country SO much that I hope 1t never does wrong. want it's dealings with other nations to be honorable, as I want my fathers dealings to be with his neighbors and business associates.
 T know that to be an American is to be different from a man of any other nation. Men of other nations may be better than Americans; I do not know. We may be lesser breed. But my country is for me the best and dearest. My country has served me nobly and well. May I serve it with the loyalty and honesty it deservesl"