Making America Good Again

     A couple of mornings ago I read in the New York Times that the United States is coming to the aid of COVID-ravaged India, 

​...sending that country shipments of raw materials to make vaccines, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear.
      “Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic," said President Biden, "the United States is determined to help India in its time of need.”

      Upon reading the part about the United States helping India in its time of need just as India had helped us when we were in need, I felt a warm little glow in my chest, kind of strange and foreign, yet somehow vaguely familiar, as if off somewhere on the far edge of my emotional memory.
      Then again yesterday I saw another Times article, this one on the front page, stating that President Biden has vowed to restore the United States as a leader in global public health. To this end Biden has given the order to send 60 million doses of American-produced vaccine to countries that are desperate for help. The President has also begun providing financial support to help with the production of one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines for the people of in India.  ​

     Again I felt the vaguely familiar warm little glow, which had sparked at the part about restoring the United States as a leader in global public health. 
      What is this feeling? I wondered. Then it hit me: What I'm feeling...might it be...just the faintest glimmer of...patriotism?  Pride in my country for stepping up and taking the lead in the fight against this planetary  scourge?  For once again having friends around the world who will gladly come to our aid as well? For having returned to being the  country that is seeking to do the good thing, the right thing, instead of the strictly self-serving, self-enriching thing? For  instead of promoting hostility, being a country that is now working to promote healing? 
      Yes, it was beyond a doubt patriotism that I was feeling then, and continue to feel now, and more than just a glimmer.
      It was once said by some unknown observer of our country, "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."
    It appears that today, in a suffering world in the grip  of a terrible pandemic, America as a nation is back on the road to being  good.

References:
 ​https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/us/politics/biden-vaccine-india.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/us/politics/india-us-coronavirus.html