Yesterday was the fourth of July; patriotism was the word of the day. I turned on the television and saw a choral group made up of military veterans singing The Star Spangled Banner.
I know that I am not supposed to question but is this country really the "land of the free and the home of the brave?" Did these young people with their angelic voices join the military because they were brave or because they couldn't find jobs to support their families? Were they fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to secure freedom or to secure oil?
We enjoy the swell of pride that accompanies patriotic thought but I fear that it lulls us into a state of complacency. If we truly love our country don't we owe it to ourselves and to each other to ask the hard questions? Siddhartha said with deceptive simplicity, "Question everything."
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