Frederick Douglass: Portrait of a Patriot
The word "patriot" comes from the Greek meaning "of one's father," but we must not confuse this with blind loyalty to a government. True patriotism lies in loving and serving a higher power.
What does the word “patriot” really mean?
I was surprised to find that, originating in Greek, the word initially meant “of one’s father,” which, upon further reflection, makes sense (i.e., patriarch, paternal, etc.). I think that regardless of nationality, to be a true patriot of any land (because when we speak of nations, we are, in fact, talking about land which can be mapped and touched and lived upon, etc.,) then one must be patriotic not to a temporal government, regardless of the government in particular, but rather of God, who is a much better Father than the legislators and Kings of history. Grant me literary privilege to distinguish the 'Patriot' I'm proposing from the nationalist patriots of modernity, using antecedent capitalization for clarity.
The nationalist patriot betrays his true Father by placing men before God, committing the worst kind of treason. He does not love his corporeal country but rather worships the power of his country’s government. Loving power and loving a land and the people who live on it are two entirely different things. To blindly respect for a government that does not respect the rights of its own citizens is a betrayal to one’s own existence. A traitor to himself as well as his fellow countrymen, his 'patriotism’ is performance art intended to entertain a corrupt or ignorant audience, including that of his own home. He is as much a slave as those he would enslave.
So what then would constitute then a “true Patriot?” I answer by reference to Frederick Douglass who, having been born this month in 1818 as a slave in Maryland, died this month is 1895 in Washington D.C., having been a US Marshall, a diplomatic Minister, and a renowned speaker, writer, and abolitionist. His autobiographies are some of the most impressive expressions of American excellence I have ever had the privilege to come across, and they offer as close to a perfect portrait of an American patriot as may be found.
Mr. Douglass, in the later years of his life, had the unique and remarkable experience of visiting his former captors who, having ran away from them as a young but indomitable slave, now returned, as they lay on their deathbeds, a dignified gentleman. He describes these visits as surreal, surpassing the works of fiction authored by even the most creative men. If there is one thing that stands out to me by his description of these events, as well as his overall character, it is his capacity to see the larger picture, loving the individuals while despising the despotic and inhuman institution of slavery. Below is a direct quote from Douglass himself, and I would like to be so bold as to highlight the latter part of the reply Douglass gave in response to a comment by a former slave-owner, who he refers to as Captain Auld.
“Frederick, I always knew you were too smart to be a slave.”
“. . . I did not run away from you, but from slavery; it was not that I loved Caesar less, but Rome more.”
Douglass spoke and wrote those words as a true Patriot, and such sentiments are as necessary today as they were then, offering as much potential to those who embrace them as they did in the regrettable days of old. They represent the difference between true love and grace felt for one’s country and a perverse desire for expansionist conquest. Rather than being a sycophant to power, true Patriots recognize and honor the values and principles that their country was founded upon, and actively work to uphold and improve upon them. They do not blindly follow their government, but rather hold it accountable and strive for true justice and equality for all citizens. They champion the ideals of liberty and freedom, even when it means going against the status quo.
-the Shultz Report by M. Shultz