The following was written by my 11 year old son, Gawain.  Hopefully our Presidential candidates find this and read it, because it is a message that needs to be heard by all of us.

How can you promote Americanism or love of country?

You can promote Americanism or love of country by practicing or doing things such as flying the American flag, honoring the pledge, and letting people practice their religion. There are more ways but for now, you will see the importance of these three ways.

Fly an American flag. The American flag is very important. It represents us; not us as in you and me, us as in the whole country. A living country. It represents all of the United States of America. Flying it shows that you love and care about the country. The flag is also something of a symbol of hope. The country will still be here and alive as long as one American flag is still flying. Francis Scott Key, the writer of the National Anthem, was being held captive in the War of 1812. He thought that the battle was lost, but when he looked, he saw the American flag still standing. He knew that we were still fighting and that there was still hope. This is only one way to show love of country.

Another way to promote Americanism is to honor the Pledge of Allegiance. The pledge is like a promise to our country. It means that we are one nation. We are undividable. We cannot be broken. Threats are plaguing the nation. Bad things are happening. Isis, for one, and then there is the crisis with addiction also. We need to be good Americans now, more than ever. We need to work together. Some people don’t even know where to start. Honoring and living by the Pledge of Allegiance is as good a place as any. It reminds us that we need to work together and love our country. We need to be one nation under God. We need to be indivisible. We need to have liberty and justice for all.

One more way to promote Americanism is to let people have their religion. Religion is an important thing. Other people let you believe what you believe, so let them believe what they believe. whether they are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or many other religions. Let them have that religion, like we have ours. The pilgrims, the reason America was found and colonized, came here for the freedom to have their religion without being
punished. Don’t destroy the reason we are, and have this great country.

These are some of the many ways you can show Americanism and love for your country. There are many more. There are lots of things you could do to show love for the country. So I suggest that you get out there and do  them.