Little personal story:

I was a "good kid." National Honor Society. Scholarship to CMU. Also, I was a Boy Scout.

Part of being a Boy Scout is being a patriotic American. It& #39;s drummed into you at every single Scout meeting. 1/
You wear a uniform (which is a paramilitary uniform) with a U.S. flag patch on it, and you learn to fold a U.S. flag property, and you learn "Taps" and "Reveille" and how to retire the colors and all that.

2/
One grandfather was an immigrant. He enlisted during World War II. The other grandfather was 1st generation. He flew the American flag every single day of his life.

When I bought my first house, it had a flag pole, and I flew the American flag, too, every nice day.

3/
During elections, I would put a sign for whatever candidate I was supporting under the flag pole with the U.S. flag. It seemed appropriate.

I lived there for 14 years, and no one ever bothered the signs — until 2016, when someone decided to steal my Hillary Clinton sign.

4/
I kept putting the flag up every day after the 2016 election, but my heart wasn& #39;t in it, like it used to be.

I didn& #39;t feel like the same pride in flying the flag like I did when I was a Boy Scout.

When we moved a few years ago, our new house didn& #39;t come with a flagpole.

5/
I do have a nice, embroidered U.S. flag, but I haven& #39;t bought a flagpole for this house, and I haven& #39;t flown the flag at this house, either.

I& #39;m not feeling super-patriotic any more.

Over the past few days in fact, I& #39;m feeling about as unpatriotic as I& #39;ve ever felt.

6/
I want to feel proud of my country again—not that we& #39;ve always done the right thing, but that we& #39;ve tried to uphold law and justice and fairness and equality. That& #39;s what I thought we stood for.

I know I sound naive, but that Boy Scout stuff, it gets into your DNA.

7/
I have no real point to this thread.

I& #39;m just tremendously, profoundly sad and angry at how America is betraying its supposed ideals and ripping itself apart — and how people who are supposed to be our leaders are instead reveling in the chaos.

8/end
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