Land of the Free Because of the Brave

“America sucks!” “I hate the U.S.!” Such ruthless expressions about a country that so many risk their lives to get to and still many others risk their lives to defend. I see these phrases written everywhere, and see the anti-government protestors on my television as they march in front of the White House. Even though I have been called “ignorant” I strongly believe that if you dislike it here then you should move to the country you believe you will be happy in. The First Amendment allows Americans freedom to express their true feelings, although a lot of time their comments and actions are offensive. Among these are the waving of foreign flags in a way that is cruel to America, inconsideration for the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our freedom, and also Americans who have short term memory and can only think about the here-and-now and not our nations past events that got us to where we are today.

One of the most disrespectful things I see is people waving flags from other countries. Now I am not talking about the “hey this is my heritage and I am proud of it”. I am speaking of the ones that say “My country is better! I don’t want to be here, in America, I would rather be somewhere else!” There are many countries out there that if I started waving the American flag, even if it was in support of my heritage, I would be harassed and maybe even killed. These people have a lot nerve to wave their flag and say derogatory things in a country that is probably giving them refuge from a country their family might have risked their lives to get away from. In that respect, they are not only insulting the country that has given them a home, but they are being very insulting to their own family.

I do not think people take into consideration the difficulties many families go through so that America can be as free as it is. Both of my parents were in the US Navy, my father was a submariner and would be gone for months at a time, and my mother worked very long hours in an Anti-Submarine Community during the Cold War. My father got out of the Navy shortly after my younger sister was born, however, my mother remained in the Navy as a reservist and after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, she was called back to active duty for a full year. We were lucky, unlike some reservists who were sent to the nations in and around Iraq, she was stationed about an hour from our home, and came home to see us almost every weekend. This was hard on her physically and mentally, but she was determined to see us as often as she could. Our mother’s commitment to our country made it where she was not home to help my sister who struggles in school, she was not there to give motherly advice (especially the kind that only a mother can give), and transportation to school events became an