This is a counterpoint (of sorts) to idyllicmollusk’s article, “Considering Patriotism.”

Everyone loves fireworks. For the average joe, they have the big BOOM and for the lady, they have pretty colors and patterns. For the whole family, they have their awe-inspiringness. Likewise, everyone loves to let their hair down and get a little silly from time to time. If there’s BBQ and beer involved, all the better. We’re descendants, by and large, of a peasant class, so it’s understandable that we like and enjoy the simpler things in life now and then.

Those weak, huddled masses that scrimped and saved to come to the land of opportunity sacrificed so that we could be here today. They dreamed of a better future for their children and whatnot. But, as with most dreams, you eventually wake up to realize that shit is pretty much the same everywhere.

I don’t live in a “gayborhood,” even though it sounds like an awesome place to live (also, I really like the vibe in Capitol Hill). Instead, I’m the much reviled age 18-49 white American male. I am to blame for just about everything, from the subjugation of women to racism against various minorities to Bud Light and Spam. Because of this, you’d think that my perspective on the garish Independence Day celebrations would differ from idyllicmollusk’s.

It doesn’t. Not really.

Patriotism is defined simply as “love and devotion to one’s country.” That leaves it pretty open to interpretation, so let me tell you what I think patriotism, true patriotism, means.

It’s a love of the place you call home, sure, but it also includes a desire to make that home a better place, a place we can all be more proud of. It doesn’t have to be equated with militarism and war. Each and every one of us can be a patriot. It takes a lot of us to make sure that our home is a better place. No one likes living in squalor, but when we’re not looking, someone sweeps all of the bad shit they can under a rug, hoping we won’t notice. The rug is starting to really bulge and we’re tripping on it as we cross the room.

Our elected officials, for the most part, are content with keep us there, too. They’d rather that we be uninformed as a populace. It makes their jobs easier. On one side, they can simply pull up the specters of gay marriage or abortion or terrorism to make their followers fall in line. On the other side, they use slightly more positive tenets, like health care and freedom from terror, but they waffle quickly and end up placating those who would rather be consumed with fear over the gay-marrying abortion-having terrorist who hate our freedoms. One side has too much testosterone and the other has no balls, to put it crassly.

We spend so much time being divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller groups that are then told to fear or dislike another group that we forget that we’re all in this together. When America does something awful on the world stage, that’s each and every one of us doing something awful on the world stage. If you’re outraged by something that is done in your name, you should speak up. That’s true patriotism.

Being cocooned into our tiny groups without access or true understanding of those other, contrarian groups around us has made us afraid of each other. The patriot in me (hiding behind the cynic in me) wants to believe that the more we know about each other the more we’ll realize that we’re essentially the same. Your struggle is my struggle and vice-versa, because to be a patriot means to want the very best from your country and a country is best when it makes life better for everyone.

So, what does all of this high-minded wishing and hoping have to do with lighting off fireworks, eating too many hotdogs and drinking too much mediocre beer? I have no idea. Maybe we’d all rather be entertained and fat and happy until we can work up the courage to actually make this country a better place. What better day to do that than the day we arbitrarily use to signify the founding of our nation?