What Is Patriotism ?
Patriotism is the love of one’s own country. It is a divine spark in the human breast It teaches a man to love his own native land more than anything else. A patriot thinks no sacrifice too great for his country; he is ever prepared to die for his mother land.
Essay And Article On : Patriotism For Today In India !!
In our country’s distress or danger we should be ready to stand by her, to work for’ her, to lay down our lives for her if need be, Has she not nursed us on her lap, nourished us of her plenty and sheltered us in her warmth? Not to love one’s country is ingratitude indeed.
A narrow-minded exclusive patriotism is a positive danger. Nothing is more criminal than the senseless cry of the English poet, “My country, right or wrong”. It is this son of foolish thing that the Englishmen constantly applaud in themselves and condemn in others.
“Patriotism has become”, says H.G. wells, “a mere national self- assertion a sentimentality 
of flag cheering with no constructive duties”. This is the brand of patriotism that Rabindranath denounced in his lectures on Nationalism, A bigoted patriotism is a perpetual cause of war. Therefore the wise Chinese philosopher, Lao-tze, called it ‘a bad and harmful feeling, and ‘a stupid doctrine’. World War II began with Hitler’s boastful and aggressive patriotism.
All wars are born of similar sentiments. George Washington, than whom there cannot be a greater patriot, once wrote to a friend, “A great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle (Patriotism) alone”. Bernard Shaw said, “You will not have a quiet world till you knock this patriotism out of the human race”, Patriotism often makes us unjust, unfair and ungenerous in our estimate of other people.
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Every nation, every race, has something definite and distinctive to contribute to the cultural heritage of the world. It is foolish to say that anyone nation has all the monopoly of God’s good gifts. There was a time when our leaders spoke doff India’s mission of spiritualizing the world and the sentiment was applauded because it appealed to the patriot in each one of us. But all missionary zeal that draws its inspiration from national self-love is wrong. No nation has a monopoly of the virtue.
Patriotism With All Cultures
Patriotism must be sobered by a proper respect for other people’s culture. Above all whenever we are ready to launch forth in a career of national boastfulness, let us remember Edith Cavell’s noble words: “I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone”. It is what-Mahatma Gandhi declared from behind the bars, Patriotism is good, but it must not supersede the feeling of universal love for all humanity.
It must not make us indifferent to the growing concept of “One World” The fact is that we 
often mix up patriotism with mere nationalism. If we could keep this distinction clear, patriotism will never mislead us into vain glorious boastfulness. A writer once said that while “patriotism was lively sense of collective responsibility; nationalism was a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill”. Nationalism is a kind of parochialism that shuts the door on the rest of mankind.
We know the brunt and should keep clear of its evils. Patriotism does not lie in thinking that one’s own country is the best. We must love our own country, but we must not have any other country or people. The true patriot must respect other countries because he respects his own.
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