September 12th, 2001. A nation was awakening to the disbelief and unsettling catastrophe that struck the morning prior. Our nation was grieving over the lost lives of 2,997 innocent victims. Such a catastrophic event; however, gave this country an ample amount of hope and unity. Some even say, the best day in the 21st century came the day after the worst day.
Our country came together that day as one. There were more flags flying that day outside of homes than any other day. A door without a flag was a rarity. A quarter of a million people decided to give blood for the first time. Many enlisted in the military to fight for peace and to make sure a terrorist attack never happened again. Congress sang god bless america on the steps of Capital Hill. George Bush’s state of the union address was applauded by both sides of the aisle. These acts of unity are unheard of in our generation. A state of the union address applauded by both sides of the aisle was patriotism at its core. Where did it all go?
Today, patriotism doesn’t just have one meaning, it has multiple, just like our country all together. Patriotism is now polarized. When asked for a definition of patriotism you would have a hard time finding a common answer. Our answers and our beliefs are not under the umbrella of one, they are divided depending on your biases. Patriotism to some is fighting for what is right while other may think it is believing in your spirited country no matter the tension. You have republicans that call democrats unpatriotic and democrats who call republicans unpatriotic. It is a touchy subject that used to be a commonality that we all shared. We should not have to wait until tragedy for our next cohesive measure.
So how did we enter this severe state of partition?
The answers will again vary on who you talk to. Perhaps there is no right answer. However, since 2001, the way news is relayed to the public is drastically different. It used to be that you would have to wait a little bit of time to receive the new via the next morning newspaper or the 6:30 evening news. Now everything is instantaneous. The downfall that drives this change is that the liberal and conservative news platforms are the loudest ones in the room. It hard to come by a true journalist that isn’t under the influence of political ties. The moderates, which is the majority of this country, don’t get heard as often, because they don’t make great TV ratings. The moderates are seen as boring. Our society seems to like the arguments, despite it never turning into action.
The reality is that we all need time to process things. There are times in our lives where we will need a quick judgement, but a lot of times good decisions comes as an end result of deliberation and compromise. Just think, we evolved over millions of years with a lot of little decisions being made. Today we evolve through heated Tweets.