Flying the colors - patriotism in wake of terrorist attacks on United States

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 12, 2001 by Rich Heffern

Many say we need a patriotism consistent with the `light of Christ'

It looks like a kind of second flowering of spring in early autumn, the way the flags have sprouted everywhere since Sept. 11. Out of the ashes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania rose a common civic-mindedness completely unprecedented in the lives of many of us, especially those born after 1962. The strokes that felled the towers probably also ended the ages of cynicism, irony and post-Cold War floundering, replaced by something that as yet can't be named, but at its birth is marked by patriotic fervor.

"Unspeakable grief and pain have also given birth to a new sense of unity and have given the nation a chance to show its true character," read a statement from Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace group, released Sept. 26.

This surge of patriotic feeling that has washed over the country is characterized by people finding ways to honor the blessing America has been and promises to continue to be. Firemen and police officers are celebrated for their heroism and courage rather than their celebrity status or stock options. There is an expectation that government leaders drop partisanship and come together to make good decisions. The American flag now represents a national community, united by the common experiences of the attack and the remarkable heroism and generosity in its aftermath.

This fervor has caused activists, comedians and intellectuals to mute criticism, to "watch what they say," in the words of White House spokesperson Air Fleischer. It has sent Arab-Americans and others who look and dress similar to those in the Middle East to take cover indoors. It has led to arrests and lock-ups of immigrants without explanation.

The patriotic fervor brings together God and country. We witness organized religion serving the nation: from the funeral of a brave Franciscan priest who died ministering to firemen to prayer services followed by military jet flyovers. Some are already warning against using God as a cheerleader for our foreign policy and military strategy.

Patriotism seems especially strong among the millions of Americans under 40, the ones with no memories of unpopular and indecisive wars.

* At the public high school in Jonesboro, Ga., students who were preparing for homecoming celebrations had chosen the theme "Old School." Each class had been asked to construct a float representing different decades; students were searching thrift shops for poodle skirts and tie-dyed shirts. After Sept. 11 the theme changed to "Pride and Patriotism," and students have emptied local stores of red, white and blue crepe paper.

* The Pledge of Allegiance, overlooked in some places for a long time, has been dusted off and promoted in schools across the nation. The Alabama state legislature passed a non-binding resolution last week to incorporate patriotic education into their state's schools' daily curricula. A civic group in Orange County, Calif., established a synchronized recitation of the Pledge in county schools every 12th day of the month.

The sense that we are part of a national community aroused by the attacks symbolized by flying the stars and stripes, is in evidence as well in our front yards and workplaces, and fluttering on radio antennas during the daily commute.

The strong emotions of patriotism were not exactly forgotten but certainly had become sequestered, especially after the McCarthy era and the Vietnam War. In many ways they had become the exclusive property of conservatives in recent decades. Now even "bleeding hearts" can be patriots.

George Packer, writing last week in The New York Times Magazine and referring to his own upbringing in a liberal family, says about waving the flag: "My family would sooner have upholstered the furniture in orange corduroy than show the colors on Memorial Day. Display wasn't just politically suspect, it was simple bad taste: sentimental, primitive, sometimes aggressive. ... Sept. 11 changed all that, instantly."

Now patriotism is solidly lodged in American hearts across the political spectrum.

This concept of patriotism is complex, the experts say, and it has an evolutionary history.

Three thousand years ago Spartans saluted the city gods and marched to war, expecting to come back with their shield or on it, but secure in knowing that city-state and cause were in one accord with divine will. Patriotism became more problematic with the coming of Christianity and its imperative to render differently to Caesar and to God. Even more of a challenge to the desire to knock heads in the name of the fatherland was Jesus' and the gospels' overarching insistence on nonviolence, a message, Gandhi once remarked, that everyone can see plainly -- with the exception of most Christians.

Then came the United States with its founding principles expressing rights rather than duties. Patriotism, in a country made up of people who are not all descended from the same ancestor or even speaking the same language or professing the same religion, becomes even more complex. Many recent immigrants from repressive regimes know exactly why they are patriotic, yet in general our patriotism is more creedal than it is linked to a motherland or to blood ties.