Impassioned

Some days ago, I wrote about boredom. What I failed to explain is that I am the opposite of bored: I’m impassioned.

According to Merriam-Webster, that means I’m filled with passion or zeal, showing great warmth or intensity of feeling. I plead guilty. That really does describe me. But because I’m also an introvert, I rarely put my feelings on display to others. I keep my emotions to myself.

But the Fourth of July brought my emotions to the fore. On that day I participated in a parade representing my American Legion post. Tears came into my eyes as I sang the national anthem. They returned when I recited the pledge of allegiance.

Then a friend sent me a video of the Texas Tenors singing “God Bless the USA.” By the time the singers were into the second line of the lyrics, I was silently bawling. That song, sung in this version with such passion, captured the feelings that led me to risk my life on the battlefield for the good of my country. I really do love my country. I only stopped serving in combat because I was getting too old to be surefooted.

The three U.S. holidays that move me most deeply are Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day. Those three capture my deepest feelings—of mourning the deaths of those who served beside me, of my love for my country, and of my love for the men who served beside me in combat. Considering the objects of my feelings, undergoing anything less than a deep passion would make me trivial.

So I take pride in my passion. Long live patriots.