befogged

This sprang from a forum discussion related to pride in one’s country, but I reckon it’s worth repeating.

Most people, I think, feel that there is a difference between loving one’s country and being proud of said country.

I love my country. I love the rolling hills, the history (by ‘history’ I mean ‘fascinating historical heritage’, incidentally. Not ‘I just love everything this country has ever done at any point in its history’!), the ancient sites, the beautiful-yet-unassuming flora and fauna, I even love the weather, gods help me (and I say this on a miserably soggy day in what’s supposed to be the middle of summer)! I love the people, by and large. It’s home, and I am very grateful that it is my home.

I don’t have such love for my government and for its actions, and nor do I have pride in same. The government is paid, by myself and my countrypeople, to do a job to the best of their ability, and I will consider their performance, and therefore the actions of ‘This Country’ on the world stage, and judge accordingly with my vote. There’s a difference between ‘my country the home’ and ‘my country the political power’.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.