Are You Patriotic? What Does That Even Mean Anymore?

 Growing up in Canada, patriotism was never loud. We did not chant the flag each morning or recite national slogans like daily vitamins. That always felt more like training than pride. A country should earn loyalty by how it treats its people, not demand it by repetition.

So am I patriotic?

Not in the way most people mean. I do not pledge allegiance to a flag simply because someone printed colors on fabric and called it sacred. I do not believe geography defines virtue. And I do not mistake nationalism for identity.

What I pledge allegiance to now is survival.

Not the shallow version of survival that hoards canned food and waits for society to collapse. I mean survival as purpose. As clarity. The kind you feel in your bones when the comfortable illusions fall away. The moment you realize most systems are not built to save you. They are built to use you until you cannot move anymore.

Survival forces honesty.

You learn quickly what matters when everything unnecessary burns off.
You need water. Food. Shelter. Fire. People you would die for.
You need a reason to wake up in the morning and fight again.

Patriotism rarely asks you to think that deeply. But survival always does.

Yet here is the surprising shift I did not expect. The deeper I leaned into survival, the more I realized I was reaching toward something above it. Because survival alone is not enough. Animals survive. Machines endure. Humans require meaning.

That is when allegiance turns upward.

Call it God. Call it the Prime Mover. Call it the One who wired this hunger for purpose into us. If survival keeps the body alive, loyalty to the Creator keeps the soul awake. Not blind obedience. Not institutional religion. A vow to live with intention and courage because the life you were given is not an accident.

So if you ask me today whether I am patriotic, here is my answer.

I am patriotic toward life.
I am loyal to truth.
I pledge allegiance to the God who designed both.

And if a nation aligns with that, I will gladly stand with it.
If not, no flag on Earth can command my devotion.

Patriotism without conscience is just a crowd in uniform.
Patriotism with purpose might still be worth dying for.

I write

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