This Week’s Section
In the time since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Americans have flexed an unfamiliar patriotic muscle. Flags have sprouted everywhere--on cars, on houses, even on pets. Stadiums full of people have wept openly when “The Star Spangled Banner” is played at sporting events. Ministers and rabbis and mullahs have sermonized about love of country. Music teachers have trotted out long-neglected songs like “America the Beautiful” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “This Land Is Your Land.”
But patriotism is more than songs and flags and bumper stickers. It moves each of us to different feelings, different thoughts, different actions. Opinion asked a variety of writers to contemplate this new mood of patriotism afoot in the land and to put into words what it means. Today’s section presents their essays.
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