Outline:
- What is patriotisın?
- The need for it patriotism can arouse the noblest sentiments. Misdirected patriotism leads to many evils.
- The coming age of intense nationalism. Patriotism must not hinder goodwill and relations between different countries.
There is a very famous poem by the great Scotch poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott. The poem is captioned “Patriotism.”
“Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own my native land………”
These inspiring lines show us that patriotism is a great and not le quality and one who is not patriotic is mean and degenerate. Patriotism meails a man’s love for the country of his birth. Man owes certain duties towards the motherland. His entire person, the good that he gets from life, his prosperity and his happiness depend on his country and he, therefore, must love and respect his motherland. Slavery is a curse for in that case the country is not free and men living in it are slaves to foreign will and domination. In that case it becomes the duty of all persons to combine and fight for national independence. Indo-Pak subcontinent too was a slave country for a long time but our leaders, inspired by strong feelings of patriotism, awakened in us the di sire to fight for freedom and sacrifice all for the noble cause. It wis by dint of this that we got independence and our homeland, Pakist an came into being. I patriotic truly is an ideal and a sentiment which brings out our most noble qualities and one who agrees to be a slave and has no love for his motherland is like a dead person.[the_ad id=”17141″]
Patriotism is a virtue which encourages qualities of love, brotherhood and co-operation. Every man feels affection for the members of his country. He fights for them and with them if they are slaves, and if they are in trouble he co-operatively works for them. In the event of a war o’ crisis, patriotism is very necessary, for unpatriotic people will allow the country to fall under foreign rule. It is seen that whenever there is a war all men struggle shoulder to shoulder to keep and preserve their freedom. Even in the last war the might of Germany swept over the countries of Europe and snatched away their freedom. Those countries where the feelings of patriotism were not high easily gave in and became slaves but there were some others whose every individual had an intense love for his motherland and could not bear to see her falling under foreign domination. The highest sacrifices are too small for it. The most glorious example is that of Russia. Germany’ had all but conquered the country but the heroic battles of Stalingrad and Moscow shall ever live in history. Men and women and even children fought for every inch of land. Even single houses were given up after the resisters were all dead. If the Germans had occupied the ground floor, the Russian patriots fought with them from the upper storey and would not give up a room without the greatest resistance. In Indo-Pak sub-continent hundreds and thousands of young men gave up lives or suffered terrible hardships or renounced wealth, position and honour for the achievement of and struggle for independence. They were indeed fired by the noble sentiment of patriotism. There is, however, another side even to this high virtue. Perverse and blind patriotism spoils the attitude of men, they either hate or misunderstand people of other countries and regard only themselves as good, noble and cultured. This perverse feeling is wrongly exploited by unscrupulous leaders who wage wars on other countries.
The future belongs to internationalism. Due to scientific and economic reasons, barriers between countries are breaking down. Interdependence is increasing. Sympathy and understanding are propagated and the whole human world wants to be united into a single entity regardless of being divided into geographical units. Patriotism must not be a hindrance in the path of goodwill and relation between various countries.
