Heat Sensitivity


 (Is there any better way to kick off a blog post than with the famous words of Thomas Paine?)
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." 

If you didn't pick up on Paine's message, the sunshine patriot is one who says they'd do anything for their country. Well, only if it's convenient for them to support such a statement. The summer soldier isn't actually willing to die for America, but would love to wear the uniform in hopes of communicating a sense of power. Although the sun has such a positive connotation, Paine uses it nearly synonymously with the word 'fake'.

So, with this in mind, what is a sunshine friend?

Admittedly, I have no clue where to even start on this subject. Over the past two years, so many different people have walked right in, then walked right out of my life, making it difficult to give a clear-cut definition on what a sunshine friend truly is. So, here's me speaking from my heart.

Most people are not malicious. Except for guys like Ted Bundy, nobody actually wakes up thinking, "how will I screw with someone's life today?" Unfortunately for me and countless others, humans have the tendency to want to protect themselves. If they are hurt, they will react. The difference between a sunshine friend and an actual friend, however, is how this reaction occurs. Now, here comes the next big question (my personal favorite this week, brought up when discussing the poem The History Teacher):

When does protection become lying?

Like the soldier leaves the battlefield to protect himself, the sunshine friend exits the friendship to do the same. Obviously, being a sunshine friend is dishonest in itself. But by protecting yourself in a way that harms others to such a degree, you also lie to yourself about what your morals truly are. Sarah Vowell explains the partly-cloudy patriot as someone who faces "never-ending qualms," but still supports their country. While she may not stand behind everything America does, she still supports it in the bigger scale of things. By describing herself as not being able to be entirely there, Vowell is simply being honest. She stands true to her morals.

It's not always easy to look at ourselves in the mirror, and see that what's there is far from perfect. But if the sunshine friend defines self-protection as their truth, then they are refusing to look at their reflection.

Comments

  1. Izzy MeremSeptember 16, 2018 at 11:05 AM

    Abby, this is an amazing post and I can relate on so many levels. People often use others for their own benefits and then when they've gotten what they wanted, they will walk away with no goodbye, but satisfaction. Sunshine friends will protect themselves before others, and that is why Vowell used the phrase "sunshine patriots" to reference people that act extremely patriotic, but the truth is, they are only trying to fit in with the standards and don't really care about America as a whole.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Connor LevittSeptember 16, 2018 at 3:26 PM

    I relate hard with this post. It really does feel like people who are supposed to be your close friends love to pick and choose when they are apart of your life, and im glad you shined some light on this.

    ReplyDelete

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