Patriotism...it's something that was instilled in me from a very young age. I went to school, we learned about our history as a nation, and we recited the pledge daily...standing up holding our hand over our heart looking at our nations flag. It came naturally and seemed to be normal. Apparently it's not something that is done everywhere however. I have read various news postings and blogs that reveal that in some states it's not mandatory and that it's seen as unconstitutional to require it to be done. This is somewhat insane to me. What is so wrong with taking just a moment a day to take recognition for our country? For the soldiers fighting daily for us? Okay fine...if this seems uneccesary to you...I can respect your opinion on the matter. Everyone has a different view of our nation I suppose.

I came across another news posting regarding a spanish class having to recite Mexico's pledge of allegiance and to sing their national anthem. There was one student who sat down and decided to not participate in the class assignment, and was in turn given another assignment once she verbalized how it was her right to not partake in reciting an alegiance to another country....no matter if it was for a "school assignment" or not.  All of this is ridiculous! it's this simple, take a moment each day in school to play the anthem or the allegiance and have a flag displayed in every room...let the student decide what they want to do. However, we should always give the option to show patriotism on a daily basis and I feel if perhaps we had more encouraging programs going on in school then we would in turn have a more active young adult population getting involved in our government, and maybe have them participate in our community on a regular basis. Let's encourage them to be educated at an early age and after all it all starts with our nation and how much we have learned from our nation's past.

In Response to "What Are We Really Fighting For?"

I am all for bringing home troops but it's not as though it was something they were forced to do. I have friends that eagerly joined the armed forces due to 9/11 and that wanted to go and fight the "good fight". All we can really do is say thank you. Yes, our tax paying dollars go toward the war, but if we were to start naming off where else our hard earned money went there are a few other topics I would point out that are far less important than the war against terrorism. What we can be thankful for is that our troops will be coming home shortly. It has been a long ten years and we have lost countless important lives over there, but those lost lives were fighting to protect us. It has to make you think, how many other almost 9/11 situations were disrupted and stopped due to the fight across the sea as well as here?

We are lucky enough to have people fighting for our very right to sit here and speculate on whether it was all worth it or not. I just hope that when our troops are back here aclimating to citizen life that they are treated with the respect they deserve. I only bring this up due to the fact that when soilders were brought back in caskets and all their families wanted to do was honor them and put them to rest they couldn't do so without interruptions. They were bombarded with hateful signs and ugly words! No matter WHAT we think about the war on terrorism, I hope all Americans have the decency to treat them as the heroes that they truly are.

So all in all, I agree with you to an extent. Our troops should be brought home, but I don't think it was for nothing. Go up and ask a soldier if he thought he had been wasting his time...I've asked my friends and although it may have only been four of them, each and every one of them believe they were there for a good reason.