Is patriotism a thing of the past or is it still kosher to take pride in
America? That question was put to basketball great Kobe Bryant at the
Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Sportscaster Cris Collinsworth
asked Bryant why he would give up his summer to play with the American
Olympic team when he could be earning big bucks at home. Bryant said
that when he got the Olympics uniform he spread it out on his bed and
gazed at it for a long time. Bryant said, "Our country, we believe, is
the greatest county in the world and it's given us so many great
opportunities and it's just this sense of pride that you have, that you
say, you know what, our country is the best."
Collinsworth was not expecting that sort of comment. Taken aback, he
asked Bryant if such pride isn't a relic of a bygone era. "Is it still
cool to talk about fighting for the red, white and blue?" Bryant didn't
care for the question. He replied, "No, that's the cool thing for me to
say. I feel great about it and I'm not ashamed to say it. This is a
tremendous honor. You look at our troops overseas who are fighting for
our country..." His voice trailed off.
There you have it. The NBC sportscaster was confounded by someone so
successful yet so down to earth and patriotic. That is incomprehensible
to those who think America is to blame for much of the evil in the
world. Despite his success, Bryant is grateful. He has traveled
elsewhere in the world. He has seen conditions abroad that he knows have
little hope. Interestingly, when he was introduced at the Olympics he
received a thunderous welcome, far greater than that received by most
Chinese athletes.
What Bryant said is true. I often talk about it with my cousin Kathy. My
father and his brother, Kathy's father, came to America to escape the
hopelessness of post-World War I Germany. Both of us have had
opportunities here that we never would have had if we had been born in
the old country. Both fathers were blue-collar workers. But they knew
that their offspring could achieve.
One rarely finds the unpatriotic hate-America-crowd among
first-generation citizens. No, it is from among those whose parents were
native, who gave their children everything they wanted and who never
inculcated a sense of gratitude for the privileges we have here.