As we all know, there were no classes last Monday. Many of my friends and fellow students were thrilled because it was 4/20, the counterculture holiday for cannabis.

But, what surprisingly few people I’ve talked to know, is that we didn’t have school because it was Patriots’ Day. Patriots’ Day has nothing to do with football, nor is it a national holiday. In fact, Patriots’ Day is only celebrated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the state of Maine and is a ‘public school observance day’ in Wisconsin (whatever that means).

The past several years, I have spent my Patriots’ Day with my family, watching members of the historical society shoot off muskets and canons after ‘Paul Revere’ rides through town (with a police escort), warning us that the British are coming. It isn’t big ‘- it’s actually kind of goofy ‘- and not many people care about it, but it is a very important holiday.

Patriots’ Day commemorates the brave men who fought the British in my hometown of Concord, Mass., and neighboring Lexington, Mass. It is also to honor the servicemen and women who have fought and died for our great nation throughout history.

Let me put it out there. I’m not some right-wing nut, I don’t like war and I’ve inhaled more than once. But the showing of ‘Half Baked’ for the Central Residential Area’s Patriots’ Day bash last weekend was an insult to the friends my brother lost in Balad, Iraq.

As Americans, we cannot forget who we are. We are the nation that created democracy as we know it. We are the nation that helped destroy evil men like Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. And we are the nation that millions have flocked to for salvation from famine, persecution and poverty.

We have our skeletons; there is no question about that. But millions of brave Americans ‘- several of them in my family ‘- proudly gave their lives simply because we asked them to. Why, then, have we forgotten them? When did dope become more important than the men and woman who have literally died for our rights to protest and vote for Question Two? Can’t we give the wounded Patriots just one day of the year?

I am disgusted with the apathy of my peers. I smoke pot from time to time, but I still care about the world around me and the country that treats me well. I have friends who didn’t vote last November because neither candidate supported so-called ‘important issues’ such as the legalization of marijuana.

Have we forgotten how privileged we are as Americans? I hear countless people around me complaining about how oppressed they are. Sure, I’m one of them. I hate cops, am in debt and can’t afford my car insurance anymore. But I am still aware of and appreciate the privileges I enjoy as an American.

I can walk down the street without worrying about being killed for my religion, I can hold my representatives accountable through voting and protest and I can call the president an idiot without being executed. I can do all of this because of the sacrifice American freedom fighters have made. It is the ignorant actions of those around me that discredit these privileges and make me lose faith in the future of the United States.

All around me, I see students who are too stoned to do their work, too wasted to wake up for class and too high to care. What really scares me is that we college students are supposed to be the elite. I want everyone reading this to ask yourself if you really deserve to be called an American. Ask yourself if you truly understand and appreciate the sacrifice that many of our grandparents made 60 years ago.

Even if you don’t support the idea of war, you cannot deny the sacrifice of the soldier. Maybe we have no right to wage war in other countries. But it is not the patriots who choose to do so ‘- it is the American people, us, who send them there.

I want my readers to think hard about how they got to where they are today. Without patriots like my brother, we wouldn’t be at a public university. Without patriots like my brother, we wouldn’t be able to participate in government. Without patriots like my brother, we wouldn’t be able to have smoked excessive amounts of pot last Monday.

So last Patriots’ Day, instead of laughing at Bob Saget asking Dave Chappelle if he has ever falated another man for pot, I called my brother and thanked him for the service and sacrifice he has made for the United States.

Andrew Prowten is a UMass student. He can be reached at aprowten@student.umass.edu.
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