The USA is the greatest nation in the world. This mentality is the one carried by many in our country. The United States likely have the most patriotic citizens but only recently have I thought about what it means to be a true patriot. This thought was sparked by our discussions in class about how the United States healthcare system could emulate and learn from other models.
Before Healing of America and before our discussions in class I was rather ignorant to our healthcare concerns. All I knew was that we had a flawed system and that it was widely discussed in politics. Surprisingly, I never even thought about the healthcare models of other countries. I naturally assumed that as screwed up as our healthcare system was that other countries were much worse off than us. I am actually quite ashamed to admit this because as an Academite I like to believe that I am a global citizen but in truth my raging red-white-and blue nationality blinded me from what other countries had to offer us. My "Ah ha!" moment occurred when we were assigned to smaller groups to discuss a specific country's healthcare model. In my group we did Germany and I remember thinking about how T.R. Reid's goal is ultimately to aid the United States by bringing knowledge back about what policies and ideas other countries successfully implemented and what he thought would and would not work.
This was the moment I decided that T.R. Reid was a true patriot. In my eyes I see patriotism as wanting to better your country and accepting that it is not perfect. I think a lot of people today do the latter today but in a completely unproductive way. People complain everyday about flaws in the United State's policies but too often these people are overall uneducated or never actually try to make a change. Another type of people we have in the United States are those who are so stuck in the mindset that the United States is always right and that other countries are so inferior that they could never have anything to offer us. In a way I believe that I too was stuck in this mindset for a long time. It was not until I began moving away from it that I realized that being a true patriot took several steps. First being to accept that no country is perfect. The second is to see that there is always room for improvement. The third step is to think of you personally can help improve your country. Finally the fourth step and personally my favorite is to go out and do it. Based on these steps I think T.R. Reid is a true patriot and I hope that one day my actions will be able to impact my country or even the world.
I wholeheartedly agree with the entirety of this blog post. These days, the news is dominated by stories of political infighting and gridlock. The very mention of the word “Congress” is accompanied with snide remarks of its ineffectiveness. Both Republican and Democratic supporters express a propensity against change, mirroring an almost visceral, natural reaction. What do we have to expose the underlying problems of our society? Can we ever fix it? How do we take the first step towards reform? These questions fly through the heads of Americans on a daily basis. Everyone has their own idea of what is the correct path for our nation, and they defend their viewpoints with militant close-mindedness, blocking out all thoughts that may present a challenge to their original worldview.
ReplyDeleteJust like Nishanth, I was utterly unfamiliar with American politics until I entered high school. Apart from the occasional classroom rant by my fellow classmates, a couple of obscene comments thrown around about the state of politics, and some half-baked discussions of policy, I had no idea what has going on. My rude awakening came in the latter part of eighth grade, when we were discussing the hot-bed healthcare issue. I was asked to interview a couple of adults about these controversial issues. Most of them gave me a standard response. They all tried reassuring me that politics have always been this way. I had the privilege of interviewing a WWII vet. When I asked him what he thought of the current political landscape, he told me that this refusal to adapt to changing world was why nations fail.
His comment struck me as a bit odd. Then, I tried learning about what happens in Washington, and I was appalled by the overwhelming indecisiveness and narrow-mindedness. Though I was not of the opinion that our political standstills were enough to drag us down the path of other failed civilizations, I realized that it was a significant problem that had to be dealt with.
With this being said, this blog struck a chord with me. We can no longer afford to be partisan dinosaurs, waiting for that big asteroid to strike. It is time to adapt or “die.” If we truly love our country, we should not be complacent with we find on our side of the ocean. Knowledge is knowledge, no matter what. Just like Nishanth said, “there is always room for improvement.” We, ourselves, have constructed the barriers that prevent us from reaching a heightened awareness of the world around us. It is time for a mindset change. The only way to do this is to acknowledge that each one of us has something to offer. There is no need to stay constrained within our borders. On the healthcare issue, it is imperative that we acknowledge the legitimacy of global solutions, not just the ones we formulate at home. Nishanth’s interesting take on patriotism goes against everything that is ingrained within conventional frames of thought. It challenges the way most of us think today. Hopefully, we can learn these lessons and apply them to the way we think as well. This may be our only hope for a better future.
Nish,
ReplyDeleteGreat post overall, I believe that it is very important for people to learn the true meaning of patriotism. Many believe it is just excessive pride and a belief of superiority in your nation, likening this great and tremendous term with extremist nationalism. Its sad to see such a powerful tool being wasted because of misinterpretation. True patriotism, though it includes pride, is really a tool in which we can continuously better our nation. In order to do this it first requires us to accept the nation's flaws, which, living in the country with some of the proudest citizens, may be difficult to admit because it is hard to believe we aren't great at everything, and it's even harder to admit that another nation may be better in that respect. This is where pride deviates from patriotism, because proud people don't want to admit to these flaws and instead take to the streets with flags and chants to parade their nation's greatness, rather than being patriots and fighting to better an already great nation. Once flaws have been recognized, patriotism requires us to look for a solution to this problem, which usually leads us to look outward to see how other nations succeed in this area. People are also reluctant to do this because they find it hard to believe anyone else could do it better than their own nation. But when we do manage to look outward it allows us to study and analyze others and eventually synthesize our own, better, solution to our problems. This has been done in the past with outstanding results, as demonstrated when President Eisenhower adopted and adapted Nazi Germany's road and highway system to create our extremely successful Interstate Highway System, which people are pleased with and don't even mind that it's foreign. This same idea could be applied to our currently ill and ailing health system, which is in dire need of a makeover and has various models from which to learn and create a better one. This is what true patriotism is, being so proud of what you have that you want to improve it in anyway possible, which includes recognizing your weaknesses and recognizing others' strengths. I'm all for parades and pride, but there's so much more to be done with this squandered sentiment and the results can only be positive.