There have been wars fought. Fought for pride, honor and power among many things. But somewhere between all this there stood the most important – the fight for ones own land; the country. There is no real necessity to point out how much bloodshed has taken place, and continues to take place, as people fight for their countries.
History has been evident leaving the present world affairs even more pathetic providing a clear image how dangerous the concepts of nationalism and patriotism have become. A concept that can kill humans is not worthy of any gratitude. It only requires some time to reflect.
Nationalism is a political ideology. It is a belief that groups of people are bound together by territorial, cultural and (sometimes) ethnic links. When people are bound together – bound to common belief systems or some specific ideas, from there comes within them a strong feeling for their own belief. This strong feeling binds them. Brings them closer.
Getting closer to some object means moving away from some other object. This is what nationalism does. In the name of a country, it over-prices the value of politics and degrades the worth of human lives. It jams the thinking of people and makes them narrow-minded. The result, indifference towards other beliefs and countrymen.
When people are brought together, they become easier to rule, and subsequently, easier to be dragged by a single chain into any kind of faith as long as their necks are bounded by the same chain. They can be made to love that chain and do anything to keep their necks tightened. They are made to believe in a sense of importance by using ‘heavy’ words like motherland or homeland.
Above all, the idea that a motherland is as important as a mother sweeps away every other value. The ‘motherland’ is worshiped. Lives are sacrificed for it. And lives are taken for it. What does it give? A birth in heaven? No. Motherland is not God. It is just a piece of land.
Patriotism means love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it. When people become patriots, they forget that there is a whole world in which they live and we don’t really have a single nice word for those who love this world. There are words for it but nothing in political sense like patriotism. I belong to this world first. I say that I am an Indian. But to explain that I belong to this world, I don’t know what to say. Human? That’s not the word.
Boundaries exist to help people rule themselves better. Not to separate them. Patriotism and nationalism make people love their own country more and forget that there are other people too who can have the same kind of love for their own country. Nationalism and patriotism are no different from fanaticism.
People fighting for their country and giving their lives is ridiculous because while doing so, they take several other lives. It makes more sense to fight for love and unity among all the people in the world, than to spill blood and beget more hatred in the name of some land marked as a country. Classifying them based on their nationality will serve no purpose. It further aggravates the already existing differences. And differences, is the last thing we want when we think of love.
"The human brain is the laziest apparatus in the world. If you start to revise before you’ve reached the end, you’re likely to begin dawdling with the revisions and putting off the difficult task of writing. Unless I find I’ve made some drastic mistake in characterization or basic structure, I never go back until I’ve written the last page."
Pearl S. Buck