American pride, who knows what it is? Until two weeks ago you never saw people randomly waving an American flag or saying that they were proud to be an American. This makes me question whether or not people really are proud and know what it means to be Americans on a day to day basis or if it is something we all take for granite.

Driving down Grape road for instance I saw a Jeep which had a giant American flag waving from the spare tire in back. It is safe to say this is not an event you would have seen three weeks ago. Again the flags hanging from various stadiums in the United States — not something we have seen before, and certainly flags being handed out at a Notre Dame football game is definatly something not seen before.

While all this American pride does rally the nation in times of tragedy it is safe to assume that Americans, Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students included, do not exhibit American Pride 365 days a year — face it we don't even do it with respect now. After the flags were used at Saturday's game how many of us threw them on the ground and discarded them, simply because they were a nuisance to hold? What ever happened to not letting the American flag touch the ground?

I was appalled Saturday to see so many flags, even though they were paper, on the ground only to be stepped on and torn apart. I was also completely distraught to see people around me ripping the flags in half to throw them up in the air as confetti. After the terrorism our country has faced where is our respect for this symbol of our nation?

If you did not want the burden of holding the flag through out the game you should not have taken it — or after the pre-game tribute you should have folded it up and put it in your pocket. In any case those who call themselves Americans should not have ripped up our flag or thrown it on the ground for someone else to step on. These were again the same people at half-time who stood up while "I am proud to be an American" was being sung.

Americans need to learn what it is to be an American daily and not just when we are called to defend our honor. We should be proud to have the flag hanging in our windows or to be wearing it on our shirt — but instead it is a symbol that is rarely thought about.

We like many in the country are fair weather Americans, who like convenience. When it is brought to our attention and we are tested Americans do step up to the plate and defend what we believe. However, this is only when times are rough. Do we really understand what everyday things we take for granite?

It is clear that America has united and rallied to defend our honor in the last two weeks we need to take time to evaluate our everyday lives and have pride in everything we do daily and not just when our country is being challenged by terrorists.

Contact Courtney Boyle at

Boyl5460@saintmarys.edu

• Students demonsrate fair weather pride