We are lucky.

We do not have to wake each day wondering if the quartering soldiers will shoot us. We wake up, go to our place of work, come home, go to sleep. We do not lie awake at night wondering if a bomb will drop on our home and kill our family, or if we will be raided in the middle of the night by aggressive foreigners. No, we do not fear at night, instead, we sleep soundly where the only harm comes from nightmares which awaken us back into our secure reality.

Sure, this place is far from perfect.

I am not vulnerable enough to believe we have a perfect economy, an equal justice system, or a fair life for everyone who inhabits this country. We are long ways from equality for all, trust me I know that.

But do you want to know what else I know?

I know that children spend their days wishing to see their father. I know that husbands excitedly await Facetime’s from their wives, because they haven’t talked to them in weeks. I know people hold on to letters they receive only on a monthly basis. I know people’s loved ones are in places they can’t even disclose. I know that men and women across the country sacrifice THEIR happiness, THEIR lives, THEIR freedom. They are on the frontline so we can have the life we do. They are sacrificing themselves so we can live a life that can be evolved into something great.

How do you think that little boy who lost his father in war would feel if you told him you are not proud to be an American?

It is OK to not be proud of our justice system.

It is OK to say you are not proud of police brutality.

It is OK to express you are not proud of the inequality.

But don’t you ever say you are not proud to be an American.

Being an American means you can dream as far and wide as you wish, you can stand up for everything you believe is wrong in this country. It means you can protest, and rally, and unite. It means you have the ability to make a change, and you are damn lucky to have that privilege of possibility. There are people in this world who are forced into war, sex, slavery, etc., and if they even dared to speak against their government they’d be killed in the most horrific ways possible. So do not say you are not proud to be an American.

People are giving their time, their heart, some even their lives so that we can sleep in peace at night, unafraid of foreign invaders.

Do not disgrace the millions who have lost their lives. The families who live each day with an ache in their heart, waiting for a loved one who will not walk through the door again. The husbands and wives who are now single parents. The mothers and fathers who’s biggest hopes are as terrible as wishing they had a body to bury.

So yes, I am proud to be an American. Too many have given their lives for me to say otherwise.