Quote:
German patriotism?
Celebrating our veteran's service
I'm not a patriotic person, which is why I was really amazed when I saw all those flags everywhere in the town, when I heard all the high school students stand up to saying the Pledge of Allegiance or when I noticed how faithful the people looked who listened to the national anthem of the United States. If in Germany someone was as patriotic as most of the American people, they would be considered as Nazis. I think most Germans would be as surprised about the patriotism here as I was.
When I came here, patriotism just seemed to be a kind of arrogance to me, as if to say "I am patriotic" equals "I love the land I am living in and I think that my country is better than all the other countries". To be honest I never really seriously thought about patriotism because it simply doesn't exist in Germany. Of course I did know what it meant, but I suppose that a lot of German teenagers can't even define it.
To be in the United States as an exchange student is a very interesting experience. I've never been away from home longer than 3 months. The 3 months I was away from home was when I was 8 years old, my parents sent me to China to live with my aunt, uncle and cousin. This was to improve my Chinese skills and to get used to the language and maybe to make me, who will always have the appearance of a Chinese person, to experience my culture. This time it has a similar purpose that I am in a foreign country. The difference is that I chose to be here. To be in the United States also gives me the opportunity to learn more about the American culture and history. In many points it is very similar to Germany. But the patriotism thing is something that you will immediately notice as a German.
After thinking carefully about this topic, I found out, that all the American patriots aren't arrogant. They just love their country. They love the people who made it possible, that they live in a free country. They celebrate their veterans not only on veteran's day or memorial's day; no, they also celebrate them in their daily prayers, in their backyards when they put flags there or in their faces while saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the Star Spangled Banner.
I thought about all this and it made me feel a lot different, than before. I realized that I'm lucky as well. I live in Germany which is also a free country. The preamble of the German constitution also guarantees us all the important freedoms, you enjoy as an American. The freedom of speech, religion, press, peaceful assemblies, petition government. I also noticed that we Germans don't appreciate these rights. We take it for granted and we don't show enough respect to our veterans.
But there's another reason why we don't think about the wars and don't want to think about them. The main reason is that most people simply just want to forget about them. In my sophomore year, we learned about world war two in about 3 classes: in our French class we read "un sac de billes" which was written by a Jew during world war two; in my history class we learned how Hitler became the German leader and what consequences that had on the daily life of every German; in our German class we read "Das dritte Reich" by Bertolt Brecht, which is about how Nazigermany effected the different people in every social class. I think it is important to know about world history, especially the history of the country you are from or you are living in. The things we learned had a big impact on me. Unfortunately there were only few people who shared my opinion. I still can hear all the complaints about "learning about Hitler is so boring". I wished we could learn good things about him, but it is a fact, that he did a lot of bad things and it doesn't make sense to just close our eyes and think about everything as a nightmare we had long time ago.
The past is still as present as it was, when all the things happened. All the Jewish people, all the people who fought against Hitler, all the people who were discriminated against didn't die for nothing. I am so glad about your courage and hope, your strength and your belief, your bravery and your determination! I admire you, you Germans who have fought for our country!
I will look at the American flags differently now and the next time when I see a black, red and golden German Bundesflagge, I will stand still and think about all the victims of Nazigermany and what they have achieved to make me live peacefully in the country they have fought for. German Nationalsocialism was a bad thing, but still it strengthened our nation and I'm thankful that there were people who didn't let anyone take away their rights, even if the consequence of their patriotism was their own death.
Celebrating our veteran's service
I'm not a patriotic person, which is why I was really amazed when I saw all those flags everywhere in the town, when I heard all the high school students stand up to saying the Pledge of Allegiance or when I noticed how faithful the people looked who listened to the national anthem of the United States. If in Germany someone was as patriotic as most of the American people, they would be considered as Nazis. I think most Germans would be as surprised about the patriotism here as I was.
When I came here, patriotism just seemed to be a kind of arrogance to me, as if to say "I am patriotic" equals "I love the land I am living in and I think that my country is better than all the other countries". To be honest I never really seriously thought about patriotism because it simply doesn't exist in Germany. Of course I did know what it meant, but I suppose that a lot of German teenagers can't even define it.
To be in the United States as an exchange student is a very interesting experience. I've never been away from home longer than 3 months. The 3 months I was away from home was when I was 8 years old, my parents sent me to China to live with my aunt, uncle and cousin. This was to improve my Chinese skills and to get used to the language and maybe to make me, who will always have the appearance of a Chinese person, to experience my culture. This time it has a similar purpose that I am in a foreign country. The difference is that I chose to be here. To be in the United States also gives me the opportunity to learn more about the American culture and history. In many points it is very similar to Germany. But the patriotism thing is something that you will immediately notice as a German.
After thinking carefully about this topic, I found out, that all the American patriots aren't arrogant. They just love their country. They love the people who made it possible, that they live in a free country. They celebrate their veterans not only on veteran's day or memorial's day; no, they also celebrate them in their daily prayers, in their backyards when they put flags there or in their faces while saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the Star Spangled Banner.
I thought about all this and it made me feel a lot different, than before. I realized that I'm lucky as well. I live in Germany which is also a free country. The preamble of the German constitution also guarantees us all the important freedoms, you enjoy as an American. The freedom of speech, religion, press, peaceful assemblies, petition government. I also noticed that we Germans don't appreciate these rights. We take it for granted and we don't show enough respect to our veterans.
But there's another reason why we don't think about the wars and don't want to think about them. The main reason is that most people simply just want to forget about them. In my sophomore year, we learned about world war two in about 3 classes: in our French class we read "un sac de billes" which was written by a Jew during world war two; in my history class we learned how Hitler became the German leader and what consequences that had on the daily life of every German; in our German class we read "Das dritte Reich" by Bertolt Brecht, which is about how Nazigermany effected the different people in every social class. I think it is important to know about world history, especially the history of the country you are from or you are living in. The things we learned had a big impact on me. Unfortunately there were only few people who shared my opinion. I still can hear all the complaints about "learning about Hitler is so boring". I wished we could learn good things about him, but it is a fact, that he did a lot of bad things and it doesn't make sense to just close our eyes and think about everything as a nightmare we had long time ago.
The past is still as present as it was, when all the things happened. All the Jewish people, all the people who fought against Hitler, all the people who were discriminated against didn't die for nothing. I am so glad about your courage and hope, your strength and your belief, your bravery and your determination! I admire you, you Germans who have fought for our country!
I will look at the American flags differently now and the next time when I see a black, red and golden German Bundesflagge, I will stand still and think about all the victims of Nazigermany and what they have achieved to make me live peacefully in the country they have fought for. German Nationalsocialism was a bad thing, but still it strengthened our nation and I'm thankful that there were people who didn't let anyone take away their rights, even if the consequence of their patriotism was their own death.
