Since Sept. 11, the date which will forever stick out in the minds of Americans, the United States has changed considerably. For instance, security everywhere is at its best ever. No one can go onto a plane without a thorough check by metal detectors and guards watching skeptically. People can no longer feel that sense of safety that we all felt before Sept. 11-that sense of being untouchable to the rest of the world. So much has changed. In the weeks that followed Sept. 11, we all saw an escalation in American pride. One day people are going about their daily routines-eating, sleeping, brushing their hair, going to work, complaining about government and politics and the president.
The next day, the world changed.
Life was no longer about political parties and petty matters. It was about deeper meaning. A surge in something that was once near death arose again in our spirits-a renewed sense of who we are and who we want to be. It was more than a sense of belonging to an ethnicity, a political party or a religion-it was a pride in being an American.
Bumper stickers with the American flags began to appear on cars. “Proud to be an American,” “United We Stand” and “God Bless America” became daily mottos once again. American flags appeared everywhere from windows in businesses to flying on the radio antennas of automobiles. This was a new America filled with a fresh outlook.
This pride, of course, continues. Some may argue that this is all a form of jingoism. This of course, for those who do not know, is an extreme, excessively expressed form of patriotism that is almost chauvinistic. I can see the point in a way.
I do not believe, however, that this is the whole case. After watching “The Patriot,” a movie ironically starring two Australian actors, Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, I felt that sense of American pride. Even though the movie was fictitious, it made me think of the sacrifices that the forefathers made so that this country could be free. It made me realize that people here in the United States should always feel proud that they were born here or that they live here.
We should be grateful that we have a chance to better ourselves and go to school or work to become the people we want to be. In a sense, it made me realize that this dawning of a new-found patriotism has nothing to do with chauvinistic pride, but another feeling altogether. It is a feeling of unity among Americans. This strong unity screams, “If you mess with one, you mess with the rest of us.” Because of this unity and the great strength of the nation, I am proud to be an American.