Recently, a young woman was hired for my ward. She is Black and from Arkansas, educated post-secondary school in Mississippi, post-grad in Louisianna. she has a masters in nursing and is taking classes to become a nurse practicioner. She is a lovely girl and a hard worker.

The reality of patriotism is within her as she describes an encounter with an aging veteran, who refers to her as "that little colored girl" and while I was horrified, she simply said she understood and took no offense.

She tells then of another, younger veteran, who speaks derisively of whites and she tells him that his anger is misplaced and that he should be grateful for the care he has been given by our nearly totally white surgical staff. (there's more to her lecture, but that is a key part).

Across the ward, there is an even younger veteran who, raised in the south, says the smells of the Black patients turns his stomach and wants to be moved to an all white ward (of which we have none), but my nurse tells him, sure, we can move you to the sixth floor...he suddenly doesn't mind so much anymore, because the sixth floor is the psych ward.

She is gentle in her admonitions to these men (much more than I would have been) and respectful of their service. She lives in the predominately Black part of town (although if you live in town, most parts are predominately Black, the whites having abandoned the city 40 years ago) and she spends her off days volunteering at schools, working with the Urban Uplift project, or tring to fix up her house.

this kind of service, dedication and attitude are what I define as patriotism. Not the strident chest thumping, or the quieter calls for diversity. The average American, going about his/her daily business is the one with the lock on the designation of Patriot. Politicians want you to believe that their patriotism is more pure, or more real or more relevant, but it is not.

I just wanted to say what a wonderful post. Thanks.

You are correct, and hats off to that nurse! I will agree, there's a difference between wearing a lapel pin and getting your hands dirty trying to actually make a difference, with no regard to race or political affiliation. It will be hard to face the challenges most of us face every day in a normal life without politics getting in the way. I feel humbled.

Ripley: You clearly miss the point of the post. Every paragraph in it references race at least once. The post's point is to establish the nurse's color-blindness in spite of prejudice, which isn't a testament to her patriotism, but a fawning, saccharine appreciation of her tolerance.

The post has little to do with patriotism--service, dedication and attitude are fine as far as they go, but they are not patriotic qualities unless they are in service of one's country, and the author has little enough to say about the nation.

GrannyB2

Excellent post - too bad there aren't more people out there like you.