Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you? So asks the daily writing prompt.

I believe I’m patriotic. I vote every election. I respect the service of our military members greatly. I honor their service often. I respect the flag and our constitution. I didn’t make it to the second line of this before tears filled my eyes looking at a picture of my parents who are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

I spend some time there so I see the pain the ultimate sacrifice leaves on families.

Having grown up in a military family I was taught respect. My fathers last station was Bethesda Naval Hospital. He passed when I was young but with our medical coverage we continued to go to that hospital. That timeframe of 61-74, I spent some time at that hospital. It was one where injured service members were returning from Vietnam with horrible injuries.

I was very young and the sacrifice of these people was front and center for me. How could it not be, seeing young men missing limbs or bodies/heads disfigured by war. Prosthetics were what looked to be in their infancy stage and many just didn’t have any to use.

A vague memory of being startled the first few times seeing a person missing limbs or worse and my Mom having a talk with me about not looking away but making eye contact, nodding and smiling. That it would make them feel better.

Opinion – With the WWII generation all but gone, and the Korea and even Vietnam era vets ranks getting thinner and thinner, I believe our country is forgetting what sacrifice is. I wonder if we could actually pull together in a crisis like the country did in WWII?

Opinion 2 – I respect every other citizen of this country and their right to also vote.