I love my country. I enjoy waking up every morning and knowing there are opportunities afforded to me because I was born and raised in the ole US of A, and having lived in the most patriotic state in the US my entire life, I know a thing or two about patriotism as well, and I know others share that love. While on the lake the other day I couldn’t help but notice the amount of American flags fluttering in the wind behind boats or swaying lazily in the summer breeze while attached to the porch of someone’s lake house. We really do love our country.

Let me tell you a few things about patriotism. While patriotism is defined by a love and support for one’s nation, the definition doesn’t stop there. Patriotism is supposed to unite a nation; it isn’t supposed to be divisive, look down upon others, be irrationally boastful, be unnecessarily militaristic, and it certainly shouldn’t be uninformed.

I’ll tell you a story.

While in conversation with a friend of mine, who we’ll call Steve, a few months ago, the topic of patriotism came up and we began to discuss what we thought about it; then we got to the topic of the most common “patriotic apparel” we see. Three of the biggest were American flag Chubbies, Reagan/Bush ’84 merchandise, and “Back 2 Back World War Champs” tank tops emblazoned with an American flag. Steve then went on to tell me about a buddy of his, who we’ll call Phil, and why he know hates those World War tanks (a disdain I share). Phil owned one of the “World War Champ” tanks and thought it would be a brilliant idea to wear said tank top into a bar…in Munich, Germany…and then proceed to brag about winning the wars. Indubitably Phil touched a few nerves and a fight broke out.

Now, this is an extreme case, and the tank top story is merely a microcosm of the “patriotism” that’s actually more chauvinistic than anything, that many show today; however, it is a relevant story because many share Phil’s sentiment, and it is an example of all the aforementioned things patriotism shouldn’t be.

For starters…wearing the flag on clothing, draping it across your soldiers, and using it as a blanket are all blatant violations of the Flag Code and therefore can be seen as anti-patriotic anyway. Second, why is a war something to brag about? Yes, we were on the winning side, but war isn’t some football game you can use as bragging rights the next to you see your friend in public. Over 77 million people died in both wars combined; that’s not a joking matter. Third, we didn’t win the war alone; it was a World War. The US military didn’t fly to Europe and the Pacific on a bald eagle painted with red, white, and blue flames and bring down the hammer of liberty upon the world…we certainly had help. Fourth, think about the Japanese and German-Americans that currently live in our country. Think about how many of them have ancestors that could have fought against the United States and died.

The sad thing is, as many of us wave our flags in blind patriotism we know very little about the country we live in. A New York Times article written in 2013 revealed that 65 percent of Americans couldn’t name a single Supreme Court justice, 30 percent couldn’t name the Vice President, 35 percent didn’t know what century the American Revolution took place, and 6 percent didn’t even know what day Independence Day fell on.

Zealous patriotism without being informed is dangerous; for example, post-9/11 we could perhaps point to our involvement in Iraq as an example of a misguided, patriotism-fueled conflict. We kind of jumped into a war blindly, and many even believed Iraq was the country responsible for the attacks in the first place.

We need to examine our patriotism. We need to make sure our displays of patriotism unite and don’t divide. We need to make sure our patriotism is welcoming to newcomers. We need to make sure our patriotism promotes love and doesn’t foster hate. We need to make sure our patriotism doesn’t involve looking down on other nations that might actually be better than we are in many aspects. Our patriotism needs some humility.

As much as we love our country, we have to realize it might not be the best country in the world…we need to realize we have our weaknesses. What will truly make America the greatest country is realizing that we haven’t yet achieved what we think America is. A land where liberty and freedom reign supreme and there is truly opportunity for who all who grace her shores. We must still treat America as an idea that hasn’t been reached yet…once we can do that we will truly be great.