Teen Column -- Kellie Brownell

As a member of a generation brought up in a time of national

complacency after the end of the Cold War, ideas of economic

infallibility and America’s invincibility became part of everyone’s sense

of security. However, both sentimentalities had been for so long taken

for granted by the entire nation.

Even the concept of patriotism seemed foreign when teachers would talk

about how sixth- and seventh-graders used to stand taller and speak

louder when saying the Pledge of Allegiance during World War II. There

had been movies about this abstract concept called patriotism in which an

entire nation came together under one flag, indivisible, to support its

motherland in time of need.

But, for me, patriotism was never able to break the boundaries of the

history textbooks all through elementary school and junior high. After

graduating from eighth grade, and thus from reciting the Pledge of

Allegiance on a daily basis, the exact words to the pledge managed to

slip from my mind, and I had never gotten around to learning the entire

national anthem. A hidden respect for America rarely seemed to surface,

except during the Fourth of July or on other national holidays.

Sept. 11 will be remembered as a day that ended that sense of security

in our nation and put into perspective the value of our freedoms.

Americans’ outlook on the country to which we belong went from almost

indifference, with hints of resentment, to unyielding respect and pride.

And for the first time, I got a feel for what it was like to live in a

nation united by patriotism. Within days, every house hung American

banners from above their doors and patios. On the road, hundreds of flags

were flown from car windows and at least half a dozen flag-wavers were

spotted over the freeway on one drive up to L.A. Stars and stripes were

even seen on toenails and T-shirts.

This revived sense of pride in our country originates from the sudden

realization of how precious our freedoms are and how much we have to

celebrate in the ways of liberty and equality that America provides for

its people. The daunting amount of support that was rallied together to

help ease the pain required to get people through this time of doubt and

fear showed how powerfully we were all affected and how willing we were

to do our part.

But as citizens of the United States who wish to glorify our nation,

we should consider what steps we are taking to uphold those principles on

which America was founded and on which America has come to embody in the

present day. Patriotism’s highly emotional roots should not dissuade us

from continuing to think critically and not let us forget about the

events that will shape the following year and maybe even decade. Time has

already managed to calm a great many people’s fears and tragedies, but

may it never wash away the remembrance of what we are truly honoring

through flag-wavingor patriotic nail painting: the American embodiment of

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

* KELLIE BROWNELL is a Newport Harbor High School junior whose columns

will appear on an occasional basis in the Community Forum section.