What Makes a Patriot?

     I recently saw on the news that a Medal of Honor was bestowed upon another American soldier who was fighting in the war in Afghanistan.  His name is Sergeant Dakota Meyer and according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website, he literally put his life on the line for his comrades, American and Afghan.

     Whenever I hear these stories of young soldiers risking everything they have in order to help others that are in perilous situations in combat, I have trouble understanding what exactly goes through their heads.  I specifically have most difficulty with comprehending how a person can overcome fear so much so as to do something so heroic.  In pondering this thought, I've come to realize that people all have different reasons for joining the armed forces (some more noble than others).  For instance, in a book titled Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, Pat Tillman, a successful NFL player, leaves his comfortable life in the states and joins the Army Rangers to fight overseas.   Krakauer describes Tillman as having idealistic, virtuous reasons for fighting in the army and Tillman writes in his diary within the book that there are many people he trained with who were immature and only wanted to see things blow up.  

     Just wanting to see things blow up would not be a reason for someone to run into open fire and try to save others fully knowing that they would probably die as result.  This means that there is something powerful propelling people like Dakota Meyer into such danger, something virtuous.  I think many people have noble thoughts and live very good lives, but most in today's society don't seem to trade in a comfortable life for something as abstract as 'the right thing to do' which often has harrowing consequences.  People like Dakota Meyer and Pat Tillman somehow embrace this danger and self-sacrifice with dignity.

     As I am not Dakota Meyer, I have no way of finding out exactly why he joined the army.  However, I can infer from his recent actions of running directly into enemy fire to save his fellow troops that there were some intense, compelling, and probably virtuous feelings from the beginning of his decision to fight.  Perhaps it was his desire to save others for their benefit.  Maybe he wanted to give his all to feel self-worth and purpose.  It is also possible that the event leading to his Medal of Honor was in part caused by unrelenting patriotism, something many Americans identify with.
   
     The United States as we know it did start off with patriots fighting for values most would agree with, such as personal freedom.  Even though I would consider myself a patriot because of how I agree with the overarching values our country was founded on, the idea of patriotism is really abstract and has always been hard for me to understand, though.  I would consider myself a patriotic person but how patriotic am I when there are people like Meyer fighting to counter terrorism and promote American values?  How important is fighting fire with fire as it relates to being considered patriotic?