<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><channel><title>Amber-Jewelry on Late Blooms</title><link>/tags/amber-jewelry/</link><description>Recent content in Amber-Jewelry on Late Blooms</description><generator>Hugo</generator><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Wed, 19 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="/tags/amber-jewelry/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Lithuanian Independence Day</title><link>/posts/lithuanian-independence-day/</link><pubDate>Wed, 19 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>/posts/lithuanian-independence-day/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://photos.smugmug.com/Lateblooms/n-ZkfX3Q/2014/Lithuanian-independence-day/i-KvVc8fQ/0/LHXbF3JGcrVLczn3NPhwj5s9kdw22GPmSMqgZmt5Z/D/Lithuanian-Independence-Day-Celebration-with-food-D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="Lithuanian Independence Day Celebration (with food)" loading="lazy" src="https://jeanjankisamaroo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Lithuanian-Independence-Day-Celebration-with-food-1024x624.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“&lt;em&gt;Patriotism is a thing difficult to put into words. It is neither precisely an emotion nor an opinion, nor a mandate, but a state of mind &amp;ndash; a reflection of our own personal sense of worth, and respect for our roots. Love of country plays a part, but it&amp;rsquo;s not merely love. Neither is it pride, although pride too is one of the ingredients. Patriotism is a commitment to what is best inside us all. And it&amp;rsquo;s a recognition of that wondrous common essence in our greater surroundings &amp;ndash; our school, team, city, state, our immediate society &amp;ndash; often ultimately delineated by our ethnic roots and borders&amp;hellip; but not always.  Indeed, these border lines are so fluid&amp;hellip; And we do not pay allegiance as much as we resonate with a shared spirit.  We all feel an undeniable bond with the land where we were born. And yet, if we leave it for another, we grow to feel a similar bond, often of a more complex nature. Both are forms of patriotism &amp;ndash; the first, involuntary, by birth, the second by choice.  Neither is less worthy than the other.  But one is earned.”  (Vera Nazarian)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>