US Deacon: Fourth of July Reflection on Patriotism

Photo by Zoltán Cse on Unsplash

Deacon William T Ditewig, PhD, from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, writes in his blog: Deacons Today: Servants in a Servant Church: "Non Sibi Sed Patriae": A Reflection on Patriotism

4 July 2025

Commander William T Ditewig, United States Navy (ret.)

Most citizens of the United States are disheartened by the current state of political affairs in our country. There appears to be no gradation of belief and opinion, no political "spectrum": one is either at one polar end of this non-existent spectrum or the other.

One extreme holds that we are doomed by the other extreme, that those who hold opposing views are ignorant, evil, disloyal, dangerous, and deadly to the principles of our founders. The opposing extreme holds the same.

On a personal level, I recently wore my Navy uniform as part of a Memorial Day ceremony. I was actually taken to task by several loved ones for doing so, apparently because they felt I would be misunderstood as supporting one political entity over another. Still others have expressed such dismay over the current state of political and cultural affairs that they not only have no interest in celebrating the Fourth of July, but they actually oppose its observance altogether. Their distress has prompted me to consider the nature of true patriotism itself.

To read on see: https://billditewig.blog/