The Patriotic Duty

For thousands of years, humanity has divided the world up and amongst itself. To protect our wellbeing, we formed communities. To protect our rights, we formed governments. To protect ourselves from other communities, we formed nations. Thus, we banded together in ever larger and more complex societies until we were either relatively safe, unable to grow any further, or unwilling to grow any further. As the citizens of these nations interacted, they formed their own unique cultures with their own traditions, styles, and histories. As people came to see themselves as being a part of their nation instead of just a part of their village, citizenry came to mean something entirely different. This new way of looking at oneself as a member of one's nation and then seeing that as a defining trait faded out of the minds of the common folk for much of the Middle Ages. It was not until the fall of the feudal system that patriotism would make its comeback.
To be a citizen is to truly belong to one's nation. It is to be part of one's community, to contribute to the welfare of one's people, and to involve oneself in the moral standing of one's nation.
Some would say that the thing a patriot should be most interested in is the welfare of their own country. This is a lie if there ever was one. The loyalty of a patriot should be to the collective soul-and not the flesh-of their nation. If soldiers are ordered to massacre a village, their patriotic duty is to fire on-if anyone at all-the one who gave such an order.
The most obvious way in which a citizen can uphold the moral state of their country is to be politically and socially aware. When a company behaves in an immoral way, the ideal patriot will boycott their goods, organize a protest, or simply let others know that a moral crime is being committed. When I use the term ideal patriot, I mean a patriot who is completely knowledgeable on every political or social issue and is also as active as possible in every way. I am doubtful that there can even be such a thing as an ideal patriot but I will use the term as an example of the very best effort that a patriot can make. The moral concerns of the ideal patriot should extend also to geopolitical issues in which their nation is not involved. That fact that Americans waited for provocation to enter both world wars is a disgrace. It is the moral duty of any powerful nation to oppose tyranny wherever it may be.
The second patriotic loyalty is to the welfare of one's own nation. The ideal patriot contributes to the welfare of his own nation and to his community. The most basic way in which a person can contribute to the welfare of his nation is simply by having a job. This includes a citizen in the economic of his country while at the same time allowing him to perform services for other citizens. While it is true that many forms of employment are not so beneficial, it is not difficult to seek patriotic employment. A job that appeals to patriotic loyalty can be anything from journalism to construction to farming to waste management. In short, any job in which you are not trying to cheat people out of their money can appeal to patriotic loyalty.
Another way in which one can act upon the second patriotic loyalty is to play an active role in the lives of others. Because the basic unit of any nation is the community, the ideal patriot is also someone that friends can lean on and family members can rely on. By being a positive influence on the lives of those around him, the ideal patriot contributes to the overall welfare of his nation. It may be true that one such person does not have a very big impact, but when there are millions of such patriots in a nation, their impact is very great indeed.
There is also a something that can appeal to either one of the two patriotic loyalties. By involving oneself in charity and community service activities, one can contribute to the moral state of one's nation, the welfare of one's nation, or both. By giving himself over to a cause, the patriot is making his nation a slightly more moral one, while the cause itself may either help one's own nation or reach out to less fortunate-but no less human-foreigners.
Finally, I am brought to another patriotic duty. It seems to fit into neither of the previously mentioned categories, yet if that means that it is a category of its own then I can find no way to appraise it in relation to the others. This final duty is to remember the history of one's own nation. It is the duty to respect and honor those who fight for one's freedom. It is the duty of every citizen to place his hand over his heart as his flag waves in the wind.