Comprised heavily of the millenial generation, U.S. college students enjoy one of the greatest freedoms one can have access to: education. These students have an opportunity many outside of this country do not.
The latest generation of Americans is so caught up in the privileges provided by “the land of opportunity” that they seem to have forgotten how those freedoms came to be, as well as how to be thankful for them. To be ungrateful is to be unpatriotic.
Acknowledging and being thankful for the rights that provide such amazing opportunities is being patriotic. American patriotism is not an allegiance to a piece of dirt or even a steadfast ideology. It’s based on the ever-developing values that make this country the greatest — like progress in human rights or the multitude of opportunities.
Although we live in a time in U.S. history with more freedoms than any other generation, getting more millenials to wave Old Glory is as difficult as prying the iPhone from their hands.
Millennials are less likely than their elders to express patriotism. The percentage of this generation that said they were patriotic is lower than any preceding gen- eration. In total, 91 percent of baby boomers claimed to be patriotic in contrast to only 70 percent of millennials, according to a 2011 Pew Research report on the generational gap in American patriotism.
The report found that just 32 percent of my generation believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world and are also the most likely to voice that.
Millennials do however have the highest hopes for America’s future despite being the least patriotic. In each generation, including millenials, more than 90 percent agreed the country’s freedoms have been very important in America’s success above any other factor.
Some in my generation love wallowing in the country’s freedoms, yet complain that the Promised Land’s milk isn’t low-fat and the honey isn’t in one of those bear-shaped jars.
No one in my family has ever graduated from a university. Not because they weren’t smart, but because they were too poor. However, as hardworking Americans do, they managed to put food on the table and a flag in the yard no matter who was president or what war was going on because, by the grace of God, we lived in America.
I’ll be the first college graduate in my family. I’m a full-time student, and also work full time as a small-engine mechanic. I know hardship. But just like most of my parent’s generation, I have never once put down on my country because things were tough.
I was taught that when someone does or gives you something, it’s proper to say “thank you.” Sadly, if one of my fellow millenials is given anything, hardly will they say “thank you.” More than likely, they’ll ask for more.
Late President John F. Kennedy said, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
This nation has done quite a lot for pre- vious generations and even more for the current one. Obviously, there is room for progress to create a more perfect union. But the progress made thus far didn’t come from those who mumbled under their breath when they were asked to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The contributions of proud Americans like former president Abraham Lincoln or Eleanor Roosevelt, even in some of the na- tion’s darkest and most divided days, led to great progress. This was not achieved because they disliked their country, but because they disliked a problem in it and, because they loved it so much, took action to make this land better.
In 1969, country music artist Merle Haggard released a track called “Fightin’ Side of Me.” Haggard’s lyrics sum up my own thoughts about the ungratefulness and the lack of patriotism in some of my generation.
“Runnin’ down the way of life, our fightin’ men have fought and died to keep. If you don’t love it, leave it. Let this song I’m singin’ be a warnin’. If you’re runnin’ down my country, man, then you’re walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me,” he wrote.
Cuss at whatever politician you want or advocate for whatever cause — that’s the joy of the First Amendment — just do it all with your hand over your heart. You owe at least that much.
Justin Stafford is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Walker, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @j_w_ stafford.