Patriotism

I was quite moved by the Der Spiegel article about Germans' fear of appearing patriotic. Perhaps because I was born in Massachusetts but raised in Texas--a state that truly believes it should be its own country--I have always found overt patriotism really obnoxious. Ok, yes, at age 8 I had a T-shirt with the state of Texas printed on it, but I've outgrown that now. There are some things to be proud of as a Texan (can you say Tex-Mex?), but it's also an incredibly conservative, insular state, and most people there could really benefit from a little global perspective. There's a bumper sticker I see on Texas vehicles that really sums up the egoism: "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could."

On the other side of the coin, Germany's lack of patriotism is kind of shocking. I visited Berlin for the first time a few years ago, and I could not believe how many monuments were dedicated to honoring the victims of World War II. I'm all for atonement, but World War II seems like a long time ago - the rest of the world knows that living Germans are not responsible for mid-century atrocities. Nonetheless, the monuments and the (relatively) new Jüdisches Museum in Berlin make it clear that this is not completely the past for many Germans. Texans might learn a thing or two from this kind of self-critical attitude...