NEPHART.COM

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

Are you patriotic?

What does that even mean?

Today I can say yes

without thinking.

Tomorrow

they will ask me for proof.

And right there

I might lose the feeling.

Because patriotism is not a posture.

Not a pose.

Not a uniform worn for pictures.

I do not stand for my nation.

My nation stands

inside my heart.

Even when I travel far,

it travels with me.

Patriotism is brushing your thoughts

before you speak.

Aligning behaviour

when no one is watching.

Respecting beliefs

that are not yours.

It is not cannons at the border.

Not bullets waiting for my heart.

My values

must bleed into my actions.

Kindness

is my flag.

Understanding

my anthem.

Beautiful thoughts

my loudest slogan.

Do not tell me

I must become a number

to be loyal.

I cannot be patriotic

if I cannot talk to my own people.

If I keep voting for hands

that charm like flutes

and bite like snakes.

If they poison us

and call it service.

No.

Long status updates

in traditional clothes

do not make me patriotic.

Pictures do not.

Taking hate

and answering with dignity

does.

Hate makes you small.

Fragile.

You cannot love a nation

by breaking bridges.

You cannot isolate yourself

and still ask to be embraced.

I wear patriotism in my heart.

I cannot turn water into blood

or blood into water.

My heart pumps one thing only

peace

mixed with love.

We have seen enough wars

hot

cold

and sold as pride.

Courage today

is choosing humanity.

These words are not new.

I am not inventing anything.

I am remembering

what we forgot.

Maybe patriotism is old.

Or maybe

we buried it

under noise.