Poop Shute

Faux Patriotism

The above pic is my grandfather, Alfred Stramaglia. It's a crappy pic on a camera phone, but you get the idea. This man is truly and deeply patriotic. He's been flying a flag for as long as I can remember. Most days it's American, but occasionally it's an Italian flag. He's very proud of his heritage as well as his country, and he has every reason to be on both counts.

He is the first generation of his family born here in the states. His father, Sabino Stramaglia, stowed away on a freighter ship... and was tossed off a couple hundred yards out of port. If I remember the story correctly, he failed this way twice before finally getting wise and seeking employment on a ship. Once it pulled into port in America he took off and never looked back.

Sabino eventually learned English, became a legal citizen, and married and had six kids. He struggled to make ends meet, but he was certain he and his family would be better off here. He watched his children grow up strong and safe, and he likely saw America as the direct cause for that. A few of them became very successful business owners. One, Alfred, became a judge and later mayor of Darien, a suburb of Chicago. He lived long enough to meet several of his grandkids and even a few great grandkids. He lived what we like to call "the American dream."

Sabino had every reason to love this country with a great deal of passion and zeal, and his children grew up with that excitement and reverence for their country. To this day for his son, my grandfather, flying the flag is meaningful, and important.

Many more people in this country have spent almost exactly 7 years flying flags. They started in September of 2001, and I think you know what I mean. Prior to that month we had a decade that was fairly prosperous and peaceful. The cold war was long over, there were no major ongoing military operations, and no clearly defined enemy. For most of my teens years this had the same effect on me as it did on many of us; complacency. Mine is a generation that was never impressed by much, and during that time, there wasn't much to impress anybody.

September 11th there was an attack, and suddenly we had flags coming out our ears. Freeways began to look like Betsy Ross threw up all over the place. Prior to this for most people 4th of July was more about beer and brats and fireworks, and now we're a nation of people suspiciously glaring at the rest of the world and screaming about how great we are. This new "patriotism" rings hollow to me.

I love this country. I recognize, appreciate, and embrace all the choices and privelages we have here that many other people don't. I love that my grandfather is so vocal about it, and I respect him for it. I love seeing this country through his eyes. But I also know that I've never been the type to wear that love on my own sleeve and yell it to the stars, and I feel I'd be a hypocrite to start now.

I've been getting emails for about a week now calling me to action to fly a flag next Thursday. I will not. I refuse to get caught up in a some popular need to feel solidarity with my fellow countrymen. I know who I am. I know my feelings about my homeland, and I don't need to plaster flags all over my home and car for them to be any more genuine.

Besides that, these seven year patriots tend to have religious and political beliefs that directly contradict my own. The car flags, for me anyway, come with a certain overzealous stigma that I'd rather avoid. I'd rather not be connected to them in any way, symbolicly or otherwise.

If you are a flag-flyer, just know that I am not condemning you, nor judging your reasons. That's for you to decide. As I said, my gramps is a proud flag-flyer, and I respect him a great deal for it. Just know that this is not for me, nor will it likely ever be.