I confess.
I didn’t want to stand up when the crowd sang “God Bless America” at Fenway Park
last Sunday, at a baseball game on a gorgeous, sunny late summer
afternoon. Didn’t want to take my hat
off. Put my hand over my heart. Belt out
the lyrics with 30,000 other fans.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d like to think I’m patriotic. I love singing
our real national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”. Hat off, placed over the
center of my chest. Watching as a huge American flag whips and curls in the
breeze. Then as Francis Scott Key’s song
builds to a crescendo of “O’er the land
of the free, and the home of the brave!”, I cheer at the top of my lungs.
The singing of “God Bless America” is a new tradition and
became the norm at major league ball parks right after September 11, 2001. It started at New York City’s Yankee Stadium, at the first
game played there after that awful Tuesday morning of terror, death and fear
thirteen years ago this week.
The singing of the America’s official national anthem at
sporting events is a much older ritual. It began in the 1918 World Series, which took place right before the end of World War I.
During the seventh inning stretch, a band struck up an impromptu version of the
anthem. Red Sox and Cubs players faced
the flag in centerfield and the crowd stood up and joined in. The singing of the anthem at every game was
formalized when America
entered World II as a way to unite folks in that common cause.
Fans singing together then knew all too well about shared
wartime service and sacrifice. Every person
in the park was touched by war. Moms
worried about their sons and daughters overseas. Gold Star families mourned loved
ones who died in battle. Neighbors
struggled with wartime shortages and rationing.
Tired factory workers toiled on double shifts to support the war
effort. Then the national anthem was a
sincere call to patriotism, for Americans to work, work, together to protect and defend their homeland.
It’s hard to fathom that this Thursday, 4,749 days will have
passed since 9/11. Half a
generation. Millions of words will be
written and spoken to mark this anniversary and most will extol
patriotism. But post 9/11: what does it
mean to be a patriot, patriotic? That
question is why I struggle with the singing of “God Bless America” as a
vestige of 9/11. Not because of the sincere motives of those who sing. Not
because of the desire to honor 9/11 victims and the millions of service men and
women who served in two wars birthed on that day so long ago.
What worries me is that the “patriotism” which has emerged
since 9/11 is marked largely by symbolism and rhetoric, not so much by shared
sacrifice. Patriotism “light”. The
ubiquitous flag lapel pin adorning every politician. The perfunctory ending of every speech, with,
“And may God bless the United
States of America”. The contradictory adoration of soldiers and
veterans, even as so many of them receive terrible care at the hands of Uncle
Sam. Or can’t find work. Or suffer from trauma.
America has
been at war continuously since 9/11, but the truth is that few of us have done
anything in support of that effort. Are
we ready to send our son or daughter into harm’s way? Pay extra taxes to finance our wars, instead
of going into debt that our kids will one day have to pay back? This week our world will be saturated in
patriotic symbols and speeches and services and stories, yet is this really
patriotism?
For me patriotism is a verb, not a noun. Patriotism is what we do to make our country
strong, not what we say or sing or declare.
Patriotism is about voting every single time we have the chance.
Patriotism is about paying our fair share of taxes as a duty, not an onerous
task. Patriotism is about saluting the
veteran in the parade and then making sure she has everything she needs to get
on with her life. Patriotism is about
volunteering: serving on town boards and committees, coaching kids in sports,
dropping off a bag of groceries at the food pantry, worshipping God in freedom
and being grateful for that gift. Patriotism is about keeping up with current
events and knowing our history. Patriotism is sometimes about protesting the
government, calling it to live up to its highest ideals.
Patriotism is so much more than standing up at a ballgame or
singing a song, or flying the stars and stripes outside of our house, or saying
the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
This 9/11 week of remembrance: let’s be real patriots. Do something, anything, to make America a
better place; honor the lost and the fallen through action, and not just public
ceremonies and private prayers.
Thirteen years later, that would be a real blessing to America.
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