The Lost Art of Loving Your Country

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“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” —Psalm 145:4

While David was speaking first of God’s mighty works, the principle reminds us of something equally important: every generation has a responsibility to faithfully pass on what is true.

This summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about stories.

Not fairy tales or folklore, but the stories that tell a people who they are.

Over the past few weeks, something unexpected has happened. As visitors from around the world descended on America for the Club World Cup, social media filled with something we haven’t seen much of lately: delight.

See my post on it here: America’s World Cup Runneth Over – Hey Salty Lady 

The Scots marched through Boston with bagpipes. Japanese fans quietly cleaned up after themselves. Europeans marveled at free refills, crushed ice, Buc-ee’s, baseball games, national parks, friendly strangers, and highways that stretch farther than imagination. They drove big trucks through big skies, discovered small-town diners, and experienced the peculiar generosity that still exists in so many corners of this country.

It was as if the world had arrived to remind Americans what America looks like.

For years we’ve been told our nation is little more than a collection of failures, flaws, and grievances. We’ve become so accustomed to apologizing for ourselves that simple gratitude can feel almost rebellious.

Then the world showed up.

And they reminded us that culture can be beautiful.

Hospitality is good.

Traditions matter.

Nations have personalities worth preserving.

At the very moment many Americans seem embarrassed by their own inheritance, millions of visitors have been enthusiastically enjoying it.

That irony hasn’t been lost on me.

Because while the world has been discovering America, many Americans have been forgetting her entirely.

Wait, What?

We know when we celebrate.

July Fourth.

We know where.

The lake. The park. The neighborhood block party. The backyard. The barn and beach.

We know what.

Fireworks. Hot dogs. Watermelon. Friends. Family. The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest and enough deviled eggs to fill Heaven.

But somewhere between the sparklers and the sprinklers, we’ve forgotten the who and the why.

We’ve stopped telling the story.

Not because history is unimportant, but because we’ve become unsure whether we’re even allowed to know it or love it.

Afraid of being called too patriotic. Too proud. Too political. 

We have quietly surrendered one of the greatest responsibilities any generation possesses: telling the truth about those who came before us.

That doesn’t mean pretending America’s founders—or any generation—were perfect.

They weren’t.

Neither are we.

History is not sacred because its people were sinless. It is worth preserving because truth is worth preserving.

Our founders were imperfect men and women who wrestled with extraordinary ideas. They sacrificed for an improbable cause and entrusted an unfinished experiment in liberty to generations they would never meet—including ours.

What we choose to remember shapes what we choose to become.

Perhaps that’s why it concerns me when I watch cities elect leaders who openly reject the principles that produced unprecedented liberty and prosperity. Or when states decline to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. Or when restoring monuments is treated as a greater offense than forgetting why they were built in the first place.

Those are not merely political disagreements.

They are symptoms of a deeper cultural amnesia.

A people who stop telling their story eventually stop believing it is worth continuing.

I refuse to accept that as inevitable.

I refuse to grieve the loss of our nation as though it were already written.

Instead, I choose stewardship. I choose gratitude. I choose a revolution of remembrance!

This July, I’m slowing down.

I’m going to remember.

I’m going to read.

I’m going to learn.

I’m going to tell the story.

I’m going to celebrate what is good and great about our past and our future.

I’m going to teach the next generation that gratitude and honesty are not enemies.

And I’d love for you to join me.

Today I’m launching Founders Month at Hey Salty Lady & The Salty Citizen—a month-long collection of stories, quotes, books, family traditions, recipes, historical places, and reflections celebrating the people, principles, providence, and inheritance that have shaped America. I’ll also be highlighting a remarkable documentary, The Founders, that brings these extraordinary figures back to life through their own words and historical writings.

Because history isn’t merely about where we’ve been.

It’s about understanding who we are, what we’ve inherited, and what we choose to pass on.

Let’s tell the story.

Click on the trailer below to find out more about The Founders Movie. You’re gonna love it!

The Founders Movie – The Founders