When Bryan Price Taught Me How To

Love Of Country Cannot Be A Supersized Version Of Individual Narcissism. True Love Of Country-of This Country-is Love Of Our Children, Of A Creed That Promises Them A Better Life Before It Promises Us Anything, And Embraces The Sacrifices Needed To Make That Better Life. True Love Of Country Is Giving Ourselves To A Cause And A Purpose Larger Than Ourselves. And That Cause Is To Make Liberty Worth Having, To Make The Pursuit Of Happiness Deeper Than The Quest For Personal Pleasure, And To Leave A Legacy Of Progress And Possibility.

What Does Purpose Mean? It Means The Deepest Desire For Our Short Lives To Mean Something. . . . To Speak A Language Of Purpose Is To Return To First Principles And To Be Able To Answer, In Plain English, The Plain Questions Of Why? Why Should We Chip In To Help Someone Else? Why Should We Defer Gratification? Why Should We Care About The Long Term? Why Should We Trust Anyone Who Seems To Be Limiting Our Ability To Do What We Want?

There Have Been, In Recent Years, Many Asian American Pioneers In The Public Eye Who've Defied The Condescendingly Complimentary 'model Minority' Stereotype: Actors Like Lucy Liu, Artists Like Maya Lin, Moguls Like Zappos Ceo Tony Hsieh. They Are Known, Often Admired.

Many Smart Folks Seem To Think That If You Just Get Your Metaphors And Messages Right, You'll Win. That If You Start Describing What You Favor As A 'moral Value' - 'affordable Health Care Is A Moral Value' Etc., - Then You'll Appeal To Red-state Voters.

To Love Country Means To Rise Above I Am Because I Am. It Is To Recognize That I Am Because We Are.