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🌊 bay of akka, palestine / 11.11.19.

Don’t be Patriotic today (9/11)

Don’t be patriotic today.  Patriotism is a celebration of ones devotion and loyalty to their country.  Patriotism is about the idea that you are loyal.

Today is not about patriotism.  Today is about remembrance.   

If you want to display your pride in what happened on 9/11, specifically for the responders who were there; then go to your local firehouse and thank them for putting their lives on the line every day.   Give them a hug, bring them dinner.  Donate to your volunteer fire department, or volunteer yourself (you dont have to be a firefighter to volunteer).   Show them that you care about them whether their saving your life or not.   Show them that you remember their brothers and sisters who did not come back from New York that day.

If you want to be patriotic today, thank a police officer that does good in your area.  Acknowledge that although there is bad cops making a bad name for them, that you know that there are also good cops, most of whom have their hands tied by the system because “ratting out” another cop will get them a lifetime of pain, or worse, a bullet in the back.   Show them that you remember the police officers who responded, and the ones who died on the line helping people that day. 

If you want to wave the flags today, wave them for the Military.  The members of the Coast Guard, National Guard, Reservists, and more that not only came to the response on that day, but continued to put their lives on the line and died for years afterwards in the “war on terror”.   Show them that their dedication is not in vain and that you will always remember. 

If you want to remember, then remember the dispatchers, sitting in their protected building, able only to pick up the phone and hear the anguish and pain on the other end.  Spending as long as it took to assure the caller that help was on the way, that they will not be left or forgotten.   Dieing a little bit every time the line went dead, or the person on the other end audibly expired while the dispatch wished their very will could transport them to someone that could help.    Listening on the radio as their comrades on the street were trying to get help… as their last words went out over the air…  “Mayday…. Mayday…. Mayday” experiencing all the pain and anguish of the day, and unable to do more than take a breath and answer the next call for help. 

Don’t be patriotic today. 

Be thankful.   Take the time to let them know you appreciate them. 

Set aside the hate, the anger, the racism, the stereotypes and just remember. 

Remember the day that for a little bit, we were united as a people, coming together as one to help each other through to the next day.  

Remember that day that we were truly the UNITED States of America, and not the petty groups at each others throats that we have become. Remember the countless lives that were lost because of hatred, racism, and religious intolerance. 

Remember….   and never let it happen again. 

Remember….  and STOP it now.

Remember.

All of the Romantics could not have prepared me for this kind of wild beauty.

Rome - Italy (by August Brill) 

being “raised right” doesn’t mean you don’t drink, party, and smoke being raised right is how you treat people, your manners & respect