Patriotism

The concept of "patriotism" in general is very vague, while, in fact, the love for one's country should be specific, measurable, and tangible. It must manifest itself through the individual's words, attitudes and actions throughout his/her life. Basically, patriotism is the love one has towards one's Motherland, or to the country one chose to live in and has dedicated one's life to. But how does one prove that love? The most fundamental unit from which a nation is made up is the family. From that base, clans or groups of the same origin and culture gradually form and develop into hamlets, villages, provinces, and, finally, a nation. If the base, the basic unit family, is strong and united, the bigger structure of which the base is the fundamental element, i.e., the whole nation, must be strong and united, too. On the contrary, if members in the family are lazy, squandering, ignorant, and prone to dependence on others for aids, then the nation must certainly be dependent on foreigners, and is vulnerable to those aggressors. From that perspective, patriotism must start from building up a strong family. The idea of unity should be instilled in every member within the family. A divided family is the beginning of a divided country; hence, foreign aggressors usually take advantage of divisive policies to dominate weaker countries. In addition to building up their own strong families, citizens of a nation, on the one hand, may contribute their skills and talents, personal wealth and family resources to build and to protect their country. That way they help to promote the survival and development of both the land and the people that share the same history and culture with their families through generations. On the other hand, they never betray or harm their country and other fellow citizens in whatever way imaginable. Constructive criticism within groups and among groups in a nation is fine, but dissemination of divisive and distorting information and misleading propaganda is very dangerous, even more dangerous than any dark gossips and rumors, or forked-tongue language within family and clans. Since the history of a nation is so closely connected with its neighboring countries and the ups and downs of the whole world, patriotic manifestations could be very complicated in reality. Many self-claimed "patriots" are mere opportunists who only take good care of their own self interests, or those of their family and their clan. And those opportunists can group together, forming a bigger party, a coalition, or a federation or bloc on the international arena. These groups or coalitions evolve with times, too. Their names or labels are often misleading or deceptive. Even the core values of a party can change drastically to fit in the ebbs and flows on the national and international arenas. A nation is like a family. There are good and bad members in each family, each group or organization. Just as there are the genuine and the counterfeit, there are patriots and traitors in every party and every nation. The key issue is who has the most power, and who makes the final decisions. It is usually the one who has the most brain power and who controls all substantial resources in the form of wealth, army and ammunition. The leader's temperament, his/her training and education plays an important role in the crucial making decision process for the whole family or nation. Whether the leader is open-minded, listening to many sensible voices, really caring for family members and the masses, or just blindedly immersed in ambitions, and engulfed in grasping power, money and fame... that factor by itself already makes a huge difference. When I tried to study more about the history of Vietnam from the 19th century up to now, I found out that it is a history of an unlucky, exploited and devisive country (mostly because of its geopolitical position, and its elongated geographic shape), torn apart by conflicts and wars among clans, exploited by colonialists, fascists and imperialists. The common people, or the ruled, would become preys and pawns to all kinds of lords and kings, national local rulers, and greedy and atrocious leaders of world powers and superpowers. Vietnam history consists of a series of stories about the masses' endless courageous behaviors and unimaginably painful sacrifices, intermingled with those innumerable disastrous wrong decisions made by the poor, weak and narrow-minded, even ignorant but arrogant and selfish leaders. Most of the 19th-century patriotic natives lacked a sound and solid vision, and the necessary training and independent critical thinking in politics and international relations. Leaders need education to avoid narrow-mindedness. Quite a few Vietnamese leaders in their fight against aggressors were mere scholarly nationalists, profoundly patriotic but politically naive, credulous and gullible, with huge ego and national pride, compared with their sophisticated and devilish foreign counterparts. Later in the 20th century it became an irreversible disaster when there appeared a few dangerous extremists, delusional politicians among the country's leaders.