Patriotism. Its a concept that I haven’t quite grasped yet – the feeling that some people have to give their country their all, the feeling that there is nothing more sacred than giving their lives for their country, the bravery to face anything under the sun just to keep their country and country men safe. Of course I speak about the armed forces of our nations.
My grandfather was an Army man. He was a distinguished officer of the British Indian Army in India. His career was so illustrated that he was among the lucky few who were double promoted during his career. From the stories I heard from my mother, he was pained that he had to leave the army due to personal reasons. I have only seen pictures and a book that my grandfather’s troop gifted him when he left the army. The personalised book along with the messages showed just how much he was adored, as a colleague, as a leader and as a friend. My father still sometimes describes the life they led during my grandfather’s time in the army. Even though he was only a baby when my grandfather left the army, the pride in my father’s eyes when he describes those times is unmistakable. He truly was (still is) proud of his father. Over the years, I’ve realised how much of that patriotism my grandfather passed onto my father. As a child, I spent very little time with my grandfather and when i did, we didn’t talk all that much. But, i have no idea why but I admired him all the same. Now when i think about it, i realise the loss. I had so much to ask him, so much to learn from him.
For me my father is my ultimate hero but my grandfather was his hero. My grandfather was a personality. When i think about patriotism, my grandfather and my father are the first people to cross my mind. I wish I could ask my grandfather what made him want to join the army. I wish I could ask him what patriotism meant to him. My father had wanted to join the army as well but couldn’t due to physical problems. But every independence day he will listen to the prime minister’s address to the nation, watch the republic day parades on every republic day, tell me stories of when he would attend the republic day parade with my grandfather and reminisce the “what could have been”. To this day, he remembers all the minute rules and regulations of the armed forces like which officer salutes in which manner, which rank wears what uniform, what all the ranks are in order, etc. This could also be attributed to his generally out of this world general knowledge but i choose to believe its his passion for the armed forces!
So, returning to my original point, patriotism. The passion for the armed forces is a definite show of real patriotism. However, there are other forms of patriotism lurking about. There are idealists who claim that they are trying to make their nations the greatest of all through their politics. There are those who claim loyalty to the country by staying and making a living versus the latest trend of leaving your country to look for better opportunities in “greener pastures”. Another form of patriotism that I have seen is the use of culture and history to make a country look like a superior nation. Sports is yet another avenue where people show the ultimate patriotism.
With so many forms of patriotism around me, I say that I don’t understand it and hence, don’t feel it. This is especially concerning because I have my loyalties towards two nations and not one. One is my birthplace and where I currently live and one is a place i call home and have done so for most of my little life so far. Both countries could not be more different, quite evident from the fact that one is called a developed country and the other a developing country. In both countries, so far, I have noticed all these forms of patriotism that I just listed above. In some cases, they are similar and in some, they are vastly different. To be honest, they are more alike than different. It is not something the US folks would like to hear but I believe it to be true. The only are where they are different is the migration. I doubt anyone is migrating from the US to move to “greener pastures”. Though, having said that, I just realised, they are in fact moving to greener pastures, named Canada!
Patriotism in the form of politics is just superficial and corrupt. In some cases, its downright insulting to the nation. The politics in India doesn’t inspire any sort of patriotism in me. There will be those who will say if people start to think like me, it will never get better. But my argument to such people is that the situation is so bad there that a person who will try to bring about a change will be squashed underneath the corruption. Young voices will be silenced by the bureaucracy and weight of the sheer lack of conscience in the people who run the nation. During the Independence day and Republic day celebrations, everyone will respect the national flag and proudly display it everywhere and the day after you will see those flags lying on the roads, trampled and crushed beneath foot prints. Out of the 365 days in a year, 363 days people wont care but during those 2 days the patriotism will overflow! In the US, its not much different now. It may not be as openly corrupt as in India but the situation is going from bad to worse each day. I still don’t understand how the country elected its current leader. I don’t follow politics much and don’t understand the intricacies of law making bodies and hence may be too uninformed to actually have an opinion but even I know this was a bad choice. For a country that has “United” in its name, it is anything but that. Again, this does nothing to inspire a sense of patriotism towards this nation.
In my opinion, if i were to even try to define patriotism, I would point to the armed forces. However, sometimes, the motivation to join the armed forces is nothing to do with patriotism. Some join for the money (or an additional income), some are forced to join to instill some sense of discipline in them, some join because they are rejected from everything else just out of school, some join because the army will give them reliefs from education loans. Indian armed forces is having to put out advertisements to ask people to join. Most of the people joining are people from poorer means who’s family have served and hence they are serving as well. So many of them join because of the pension their family would receive. Some do it for the rations that their families would receive. It is hard to see the way of life for some of these people. But at some level, every person who joins gets instilled with a sense of loyalty to their brethren and their country. So my lack of understanding may just be because I am not personally attached to the armed forces in any way. But when i hear the national anthem play somewhere, when i read news about our soldiers dying, when i see the families of the soldiers bravely facing the country to receive posthumous honours, or even watch TV shows like NCIS where I see a glimpse of that patriotism (but i realise that is acting), somewhere deep down I get emotional and feel a slight sense of loss. It moves me enough to make me want to voice my opinions. It makes me believe that there is something in the feeling of loyalty and bravery and in some ways, I too am loyal and patriotic, much like my father and grandfather. I may not show it but it is ingrained in me and that is the true form of patriotism.
Musings of a confused nut! 