Patriotism - Just Being!

The 66^th Republic Day celebrations this year were special indeed with the world’s most influential person, Mr. Obama, sharing the stage with Mr. Modi, touted to greatly influence India’s destiny as a ‘superpower’. While the visit quite predictably got embroiled in political polemics, it can’t be denied that there seems to be a more cohesive effort in establishing a stronger identity for India and Indians on the world map. We are in midst of a sort of a conscious community awakening working toward this goal which now seems attainable. So yes, we have reasons to be proud. To be an Indian.   

On the other hand we also have various fundamentalists and hardliners, found across the world, who believe that being a patriot is a special prerogative of those who belong to a particular religion or follow certain set values and customs or belong to a particular race/ethnicity. So much so that any divergence from a criteria usually results in misplaced acts of intolerance such as war and terror attacks at an extreme level and crimes based on differences in race, ethnicity and even religion. Perhaps it has to do much with the interconnectedness of patriotism with not just sharing a common culture, history or geographical boundary but also belief systems like religion, customs and ideologies shaped over time by its influential societies and communities. 

Therein lays the conundrum. The word ‘patriotism’ in itself has so many hues that it might heed well to think of what patriotism means to us. It’s since the time of Greeks that such a sense of attachment and purpose could be sewn in within the context of a citizen’s role in a society and nation at large. However, it can also be a tool to propagate exclusivity and preferential treatment. Haven’t many a war been fought under the pretext of love of nation? 

While America justified its ‘War on Terror’ as a necessity to protect the rights and liberties of Americans, rights activists and intelligentsia have criticised the massive destruction in terms of lives and resources it has caused innocent civilians in Iraq while questioning the motive. It isn’t to say of course that patriotism is bad, many wars have been won for just causes due to it but in an increasingly borderless world is patriotism helping bridge the divide or creating a deeper wedge?

The answer of course is subjective and really depends on what we derive from the term. Our association with the emotion. Patriotism grows slowly and is ingrained within us. As an educator, I would like to believe that the foundation is laid in schools. We might not teach patriotism implicitly but when we teach history or when we form early morning assemblies and recite the pledge, celebrate national festivals and independence, represent the country at any sports or other event or do social work or clean our streets we are sowing the seeds of this emotion. It is undoubtedly a powerful, flexible and a great moral sentiment.  

The trick is to propagate its most sincere form. One which doesn’t tear apart rights of one community while seemingly building the ramparts around another community. It is as much in showing respect for a national flag but also respecting another’s just the same; it is not just in shouting slogans and being willing to give life for your country while taking an enemy’s but also to preserve life in all its form and to promote growth; It is as much in cleaning one’s mind of biases as much as it is cleaning our streets. It is about being conscientious, dedicated and giving our 100% to our job. But most importantly, it must also mean we need to respect another being's right to just BE.