Anyone who knows me, knows that I can sometimes be too patriotic (if there’s such a thing). People always ask me why, and I simply say, “Because I’ve seen and understand the world outside this country.” I’m a first generation American, and every day I find myself thanking God that I was born in this country.

I grew up in a household where my parents worked and worked to get to where they are today. I learned to appreciate this country and to know that this is the one country where I can be anything. This being said, yes, I know, our country has seen better days and could use a lot work. However, although it may be your “right” to burn the American flag, don’t.

I was sitting in class the other day and an article popped up on my Facebook. It was one that talked about protesters stepping on and destroying the American flag at a Trump rally. I read half the article and my eyes started to tear up and my hands began to shake. I was filled with anger, disgust and sadness. Even sitting here, writing this, my hands are shaking because I continue to be shocked.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” After reading that article, I immediately thought of what President Lincoln said. I thought of our nation's past. America has always been known to be the strongest nation on the planet, with justification, because we’ve got it all put together, or at least we used to.

Don’t get me wrong; Donald Trump has said a lot that I don’t agree with. But then again, so has President Obama. I’ve struggled the past eight years under this presidency, and I’ve cursed and yelled over a lot of the choices this president has made. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever think to take our great flag and destroy it because I have an understanding of how lucky I am to have the freedom to be able to disagree with my president and not have my life be put in danger.

Many Americans forget to look outside this country. Countries like North Korea can’t even begin to imagine what freedom is because if it is reported that you are criticizing the country’s leadership “famil[ies] ‘disappear’ from society and end up in a political prison camp.” The list of the freedoms North Korea doesn’t have goes on and on on this website.

Along with North Korea, the Middle East struggles to give its people any sort of freedom. Without any religious freedom and governmental corruption “The Middle East is by almost any reckoning the world's worst region for freedom of expression" (Unholy Silence). I could continue to name countries that lack freedom, but there’s not enough space in this article for that.

I think that the people of our country have lost sight of who we really are as a nation. I think that we’ve forgotten that our freedom is not free. Watching flags burn brings me to tears because my best friend joined the Air Force for that flag. Because my high school friends are thousands of miles away from their friends and family, sad that they couldn’t make it home for Christmas to be with their parents, for that flag. Because there are mother and fathers, daughters and sons, worried sick everyday if their loved ones will survive the day for that flag. Because families go weeks and months without hearing from or seeing their fighters for that flag. And because in a few years, there’s a possibility that I could be watching my friends be buried in the ground with that flag. The reason you are allowed to damage that flag is because of the men and women who are fighting countries who want to take your freedom away.

So I leave with this: I understand the anger and frustration that many are experiencing with our country today, I get it. But, even on our worst days, you have to believe in the future of America. You have to believe that there is no other country like the one you are living in, and if there is one close to it, it’s probably because we helped them. Join together, differences and all, be Americans.

Otherwise, we’ll destroy ourselves, and in a world with ISIS, who wants us all dead simply because we love freedom, we can’t be weak enough to do that. Don’t take what you have for granted. Freedom isn’t free. The next time you pick up the flames, remember that somebody’s best friend, son, daughter, mother, father, is out there fighting for that flag or even worse, is buried with that flag.