Displaying patriotism is not just displaying the flag.

It means helping our country realize its potential by helping our fellow citizens.

It means giving time and money to charities.

It means paying higher taxes to improve schools, house the homeless, create jobs for the unemployed.

It means putting aside religious and cultural differences to work for the greater good for the greatest number.

It means seeing another person’s point of view and finding a common moral ground.

For politicians, it means refusing to stoop to gutter politics to win because mud-slinging erodes our electoral process.

For attorneys and judges, it means not filing those frivolous lawsuits or throwing them out of court when they are filed.

For police officers, it means following the letter and the spirit of the law, even when it is frustrating.

For business leaders, it means putting the welfare of the country, its people, and our environment ahead of the quick buck.

For the rest of us, it means treating all people as equals and not putting material values ahead of human values.

In short, it means always doing the right thing even when it hurts.

Most of all, it means not putting our patriotism in the closet with our flag to be taken out only on the 4th of July. Rather, it means putting patriotism into action every day in every way we can. That’s what being a peacetime patriot should be for every American.