When Steve Matlin set out to see America, there was nothing to stop him.
There were no guards, no fences, no rules to keep him from wandering east to west, north to south. So he packed up his motor home and hit the road on Sept. 11, 2003.
After all, America is free.
"I decided to pick a historic date, so I'd always remember it," said Matlin, 62, of Los Angeles, Calif. "I couldn't think of a date that meant more than this."
Disabled since 1995, the podiatrist battled boredom until a Jack Nicholson movie, "About Schmidt," inspired him to start traveling. Going at a pace of about 200 miles a day, he and his service dog, Peter, haven't looked back.
"I wanted to see the country the way nobody else has seen the country," he said. "I'm proud of our country. We have the capacity to be kind and strong, but still defend ourselves when someone attacks us."
One nation
On Sept. 11, 2001, being American took on new meaning when terror darkened the morning sky.
Generations who lived through the 1941 Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor remembered what it was like to be under attack, but those who learned about it from history books and movie screens were stunned to see real people running for their lives as planes turned into fireballs and skyscrapers crumbled to ashes.
In an instant, they united.
They ran toward the danger, hoping to help in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania. They dug in the rubble, breathed toxic dust, worked to exhaustion.
The ones too far away to help with rescue and recovery efforts felt helpless, so they rushed to buy flags, depleting store inventories from Maine to California. On lawns and porches and mailboxes, in windows and along roadsides, they sprouted like dandelions in an untended field.
Everywhere, people were kinder, more compassionate, suddenly willing to give their time, their money, their blood -- without being asked.
On a day when so many Americans died, patriots were born.
Vietnam veteran Steve Dennison, 56, of Brentwood, said he did the only thing he could think of that day. He put a flag on his car.
"I wanted to show them that no matter what you do to Americans, you're not going to break us," Dennison said.
Trips to bountiful
Traveling around, Matlin has seen many things that make the country great.
On a sweltering August afternoon in Springfield, Ill., he rested on a shady bench at Abraham Lincoln's tomb in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, a place where harried tourists spend a few quiet moments, snap some pictures and cross one more item from their "things to see" lists.
He said he's never in a hurry when he visits monuments like Mt. Rushmore and battlefields in Gettysburg and museums for everything from airplanes to football to caskets. He picks places at random from a wrinkled map and then soaks up the history, the details, the trivia. To him, if something sounds interesting, if somebody built a monument for it, it's worth taking a look.
"There's so much good about this country, so many things that people don't take time to appreciate and learn," he said.
Many insist that America's riches can't be captured in snapshots.
"I consider myself a patriot," said Ron Harbison, 77, of Saxonburg, Butler County, a former Marine Corps radar operator during the Korean War. "I'm a hunter, and I appreciate the gun freedom. And, I spout off from time to time and I don't have to worry about getting hauled off."
Hank Overlock, 75, of Medford, Mass., an Air Force mechanic during the Korean War, said Americans should never take their rights and privileges for granted.
"It's paradise to live here," said Overlock, a volunteer who refurbishes ship equipment in a dockside machine shop near the USS Cassin Young at Charlestown Navy Yard at the Boston National Historic Park.
"I can go anywhere and do anything. That's freedom."
Free, not easy
Americans have freedoms, but many people say it's not easy these days to be an American.
Frank Downing, 85, of Windham, N.H., is a World War II Navy veteran and retired electrician who opens doors for women, prays before meals and holds his hand over his heart when the flag is raised. For him, life was simpler in 1944 when he was a submarine torpedoman patrolling the Pacific Ocean on the USS Segundo.
Back then, enemies and allies were well-defined. Military men, and their leaders, were heroes. America might not have been loved by all, but it was respected.
"I'm as patriotic as anyone, but I wonder how the rest of the world looks at us now," said Downing, whose sub stood by in Tokyo Bay for Japan's surrender. "As bad as it was then, it was nicer. It takes a lot to be an American now."
Retired postmistress Alta Stech, 88, of Cawker City, Kan., said her role was clear when she worked as a riveter in a bomber plant in Omaha, Neb., while her husband served in the Army during World War II.
"I'm proud of that," she said, flexing a muscle in her right arm. "But times have certainly changed. As you get older, you look back and think about all that's happened.
"I worry about the country."
For some, it goes beyond worry.
Floretta Crabtree, 64, of Rio Grande, N.J., is a retired physical education professor and coach who taught her East Connecticut State University teams about patriotism and how to behave during the playing of the National Anthem.
"With the direction the country has gone, I'm really ashamed to be an American. We used to stand for honor, kindness and integrity, but other countries' opinions of us has changed," she said.
As attitudes changed abroad, Bill C. Shea, 84, of Springfield, Ill., began to worry about the younger generation.
Shea, who charges $2 for tours of Shea's Gas Station Museum on historic Route 66, said he's "about as patriotic as you can get." A D-Day survivor who fought in the Army in World War II, he votes every election, buys only American-made products and supports the troops -- even though he thinks they should "just level Baghdad and get it over with."
Young patriots
Many young people looked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to determine their future.
Air Force Academy juniors John Smyrsky, 20, of Waipahu, Hawaii, and Geoffrey Britzke, 20, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., were 15-year-old high school sophomores when they watched the horror unfold on television.
Smyrsky, whose father served in the Army, always wanted to fly and liked the idea of following his father into the military. Sept. 11, 2001, sealed his decision to enlist, just as it did for Britzke.
"I worry about the fighting, but it needs to be done," Britzke said.
Military or not, young people must work at patriotism, said Ben Sloane, 19, of Rochester, N.Y., a junior theatre major at Emerson College in Boston.
"Being patriotic carries a lot of responsibility," he said. "In my age group, there's a lot of bashing of patriotism right now; it's not really cool to be patriotic. I think a start is to vote responsibly and keep up on your reading, especially the newspapers, so you can have an informed opinion on everything."
Although school might be the best place to study freedom, some students say it's not always a priority. Amelia VanDeMark, 15, of Newfield, N.Y., said students in her high school are given a choice as to whether they'd like to say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.
"If we really want to be patriotic, we can. I would, but if it's a busy morning and I have homework to do, I wouldn't get it done," she said. "Once I got into high school, it just didn't happen anymore."
To fourth-grade students Madison Downs and Savanna Cooper, both 9, of Unity Township, Westmoreland County, being patriotic is simple.
Everyone — homework or not — should just remember what they learned in kindergarten.
"My teacher said we say it because we show we're Americans and it's our country. If you're not doing it, it's like you don't respect your country," Cooper said.
