It is a holiday in Massachusetts today, for we celebrate the day upon which the first shots were fired in the War of Independence.

The Boston Globe reflects on the meaning of this day in an editorial "True Patriotism".

" It is a day for celebrating patriots, and looking back, we think we see them so clearly -- Sam Adams, Paul Revere, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, to name a few. Unquestionable historical heroes -- now. But in their time they were considered renegades and decidedly unpatriotic to their country, England. Something to ponder as hundreds of American flags wave the runners along the Boston Marathon route and patriotism past and present seems easy. A person may think: Today we're all patriots just the way we're all Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

But what does it mean to be a patriot in 2003? The question remains as complex as it was for people fomenting the Revolutionary War. And over the past year Americans have seen war once again divide people and cause them to question loyalty to country.
...
Maybe it's overused -- or, more to the point, underconsidered. Today is a good time to do that and to remember that passion for one's country -- anger as well as love -- means that the electorate is healthy. Disagreeing fiercely in war or peace while uniting on the right to disagree is the best kind of patriotism. "