The 21st century is the marked era of mass globalization; boundaries are treated to be present only if they are thought to be there. This is definitely the time for thinking out loud instead of keeping thoughts and questions bottled up.
What really is Patriotism? Is it the national boundary, the flag, the anthem or the sense of being part of a mixed society, beliefs and culture bound by the things mentioned? How come Nationalism and Patriotism are not differentiated in a broader base if they are essentially different? Here’s some food for thought, what happens if we settle on another planet? Of course that is not in the ten year or even in the hundred-year horizon, but what then? The human race would transcend dimensions and light-years within the breadth of a couple of millennia, so it brings the question- how would patriotism be defined then? Will it end up as a binary definition or a self-contained concrete concept? Standing in at this point of time, these all are as vague as trying to discern next month’s stock market index using the soggy tea bags from last night’s tea pot!
Divination and far-fetched speculations aside, we are after all human beings capable of complex abstract thoughts as well as sound judgement. Patriotism is in the hearts of the people cheering on as one in the football fields just as much as it is in the hearts of the players. It is in the voices of the fresh faced school children who sing the national anthem every morning as the national flag is raised. It is imbued in every cell of the person who is separated by two continents and three oceans. But as patriotism is projected outwardly in a variety of ways, the essence of it is also interpreted differently. It may as well be as simple as doing the right thing which the situation calls for, ultimately the concept must have a synergistic output.
Patriotism is not a word that gains spotlight in specific months only, or just to be thoroughly analyzed for an essay. It’s time to embrace it as a concept that transcends boundaries and lines of thought which essentially unifies the people for better outcomes without complications.
I always believe in the NG Project.
– Sidi Wilson Onoja writes from Abuja, Nigeria
