What do the words Patriot and Patriotism mean to the up and coming generation? I might not be fully reflective or accurate in many senses considering I have a pretty politically active family and I am much more aware and conscious of how the political system works; however, I believe I could hit the points with what it does mean to this one individual in his generation.

Agree with me if you want. Disagree if you must. This is what I think and they are my views, and they are not to reflect the view of any other person, young or old, alive or dead.

Patriotism means a lot to me personally, considering I have had a direct family member die or wounded in every single conflict America has been involved in since the American Revolution. Currently I have 3 cousins serving in the middle east, one in Afghanistan and two in Iraq. I just had an Uncle come back and is now on reserve, and hopefully will not be getting sent back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8

The video to me personally means that we spend only a few dollars for a ribbon that goes on your car, and for most people that is sufficient support for our troops that are over seas in their minds, when in reality it is not when considering how many people actually buy them compared to how much we spend daily on the middle eastern wars we are fighting currently.

I have even considered serving, but have chosen against it because I feel I would be being sent over to fight something that should never have been started. A quote I like to describe most of what I mean is "When the rich wage war it's the poor who die" from Jean-Paul Sarte. We as the lower classes are fighting the wars that the wealthy create, ultimately for their own profit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UoeNmmiTs

What really irks me about being a part of my current generation is how little sense of patriotism there is in so many. Compare us to the generations of past. During Vietnam, Korea, World War Two and down to World War Uno.

In World War One, the war called the "war to end all wars", youth had jumped in by the hundreds to stand up and serve and accomplish what they felt was their duty. They voluntarily signed up to fight against what they believed in their heart threatened the safety of their State.

When World War Two broke out, the war to claim the biggest death toll in the history of human warfare, the young of the time lined up and saluted to Sergeants for the first time all around the country. This time, fighting for not only what they saw put in danger their country, but the world as a whole. They fought to cripple the approach of a country and people tainted by a person that some would call demonic.

The youth of that time did not fight just for their country, maybe not even the whole world, but for their fellow man, the people standing and fighting next to them, the men they only just met and already call brother. These words come to mind; talk with me and you are my friend, fight with me and you are my brother.

During the travesty of Vietnam the youth did not stand up to fight against those the government named the enemy, but against the enemy they could clearly see before them, their own government. Then they saw the ones that the youth of older times had defended as the new enemy. They did not fight on battlefields, in marshes or on beaches. They fought with protest in the streets and on the sidewalks of America stop a war they knew to be wrong and to bring back home their brethren, even though they later ridiculed those brethren, that had been forced into a war they did not believe in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzORu1dqEE0

Now there is this generation, that is now just setting itself upon the world. Yet in my eyes, it is a piss poor generation when it comes to the subject of patriotism. My generation says they know about the wars. They talk about them casually, like they do not affect them. They see it on the news and brush it away, thinking all of it is moot.

They don't fight, they watch their shows. They don't protest, they go to the mall. They don't stand up, they sit at their computers. Truly, youth is wasted on the young.



They do not know what it is to be a patriot

Now, they do nothing. They say they do not like the war, and then they go on to other subjects, not giving a second thought. There is no thought of stepping up to fight. No thought of protest against our government. I feel truly saddened to be a part of such a group that has no sense of being a patriot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou61c...e=channel_page

I have only two questions for those among me in this growing generation.

What is patriotism in your own words?

Are you?