“Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.” -Oscar Wilde
Is patriotism just devotion to one’s country? Instilling the feeling of patriotism has a political intent these days to deceive, distract and dominate the common man. Taking a selfie with the Indian national flag and posting it as your profile picture does not make anyone a patriot. Patriotism has to be more action-oriented than just a feeling. It is more to do with what you do for your country.
It is a genuine effort to bring peace and harmony to the country, not flaming and creating a social media divide. Generating a virtual certificate for uploading your selfie is like giving peanuts to monkeys. This sort of engagement activity (remember during the pandemic, the clanging of vessels and showing light beams from torches) provides a kick to these leaders who believe that the voters are just puppets in their hands.
“Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.” – Rabindra Nath Tagore
Patriotism vs Nationalism
Wanting one’s country to win a game of sport or playing a sport for your country does not equate to patriotism either. It is Nationalism.
Patriotism is more to do with your virtues and values and what you do for the betterment of the country beyond your profession. People leave our country for better prospects, pay taxes to other countries, and yet have politically toxic opinions as if they are the greatest patriot.
Political leaders now take advantage of the hostility that emerges between various religious and political groups on many social media platforms. Well, it might be easy for some to say to ignore these and mind one’s business. As a citizen of this country, it is frustrating to see this divide happening and is difficult to turn a blind eye.
A good feeling of patriotism could arise when there is a positive experience and reciprocation of the poor and downtrodden based on how the country helps them in their livelihood.
Instead, they have been influenced by the groups that they belong to and are forced to fight a battle they don’t want to fight and they see it as an orange team vs a green or a red team. The religious and language divide is ruining this country beyond restoration. Unity in Diversity is not been spoken of lately.
Birds of the same feather flock together; the feather here is not the country which should give us the feeling of national pride but more often it is religion or faith one follows.
The world we live today
I came up with these lines, composed and sung for the day of Independence. This does not make me a true patriot unless I am true to this country in all other endeavours.
The world we live today it’s crazy
Look around and you will see
Why should anybody bother
about what we eat or what we wear
The friends we make and the ones we break
for what we believe and to whom we pray
It’s a war of words or with weapons
It’s rare to see a friendly smile
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
We would love this world if our people
Live in peace and harmony
The things we do, in our life
Let it be good for all of us
The music we make and the songs we sing
Be a melody of love and hope
We fought and got our freedom
Oh… let it not go in vain
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
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