Patriotism - Importance & Pitfalls
A 4th of July Special
Today is the fourth of July, I got up at around 7am and decided to write about patriotism and my real life experiences with it. I’m not even sure if I wrote this right or if it’s even understandable, I just hope you get something out of it.
Lack of Patriotism
The definition of patriotism according to Webster’s dictionary is “Love for or devotion to one's country”. Patriotism to me is a very important thing, especially if you want a country to function properly. “Function properly? Well, can’t everyone just do their jobs and have it all work out?” The answer to that is no, it might work out short term but it’s a recipe for disaster in the long run.
When you have a lack of patriotism in the leadership of your country, you give way to a lot of corruption. Everyone is looking to get into government with the goal of lining their pockets and not to implementing policies that’ll make everyone more successful. Yes, every country has corruption but there are acceptable levels of corruption. Corruption is something that has to be managed, It’s almost impossible to fully get rid of. Some might even argue that a small amount of corruption help big bureaucracies run smoother. Patriotism in a country’s leadership help keep those corruption levels low. To see examples of this look no further then your average third world country, you’ll notice that most of the leadership is there to enrich themselves with government funds, aid money and of course enjoy the powers their positions bring. The United States actively replaces leaders of countries with less patriotic and incompetent ones for that reason. Less patriotic leaders are easy for the US to control, even though it’s at the expense of that countries citizens, they get to stay poor forever.
When you have a lack of patriotism in your country’s citizens people value their own lives and don’t care about their country and it’s future. When gangsters, terrorists, and cartels are roaming the street killing, robbing and stealing the citizens look out for themselves instead of confronting the perpetrators. They are all afraid to die, but what they don’t understand is that if they got together they could stop these guys in one afternoon. Instead they rather watch their fellow citizens get killed day after day, as long as it’s not them they move along with their lives.
If you were to ask those people if they love their country they would tell you “Of Course!” and wave flags but it’s all BS. You can’t love if you’re not willing to die, it’s the duality of life. If you’re not willing to die for something then you don’t own it, you were merely holding it for someone with enough balls to come grab it.
Too Much Patriotism
Everything in life has to be balanced including patriotism. Too much patriotism will have a country thinking that it’s superior to all other countries. You can start to believe that you can accomplish anything. That mindset can give you an arrogance that allows you to underestimate others, you start making huge mistakes. This can also lead to discrimination, racism etc on a large scale. The funny thing about life is that even the tallest giants get humbled. Examples: Imperial Japan, The Achaemenid Persian Empire, Nazi Germany and many other examples including modern day.
“mans got to know his limitations” or whatever
I guess the conclusion is that while you should be willing to die for your country and should always be trying to make your fellow citizens more successful. You shouldn’t let it get your head and start thinking that you’re superior to others and can’t be humiliated, both sides of the Patriotism scale lead to death.
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world” -Miyamoto Musashi
“The world is always full of the sound of waves. The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing, and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?” -Eiji Yoshikawa
Thank you for reading, Happy 4th of July.