“Nationalism is a sacred passion, a great moral and ethical
belief, a social expression on a national plane, immense love for the country.
It is an infrangible notion to treat loyalty to one’s nation superior to all
other loyalties”.
A true nationalist is one who regards his country as the
cause of his existence and ready to abandon his own interests for its welfare.
An avowed nationalist never minds sacrificing everything including his life for
the cause of the nation. People adore and glorify him as an incarnation of
super-being. Poets compose verses in honor of his deeds and everyone prays for
his immortality. After death he is treated as an eternal foundation of
inspiration, an ideal to be followed by all, a beacon light that shows the
right path even after his departure.
Nationalism can’t be treated as a passive thing or an
inconspicuous way of leading life. It is such an active and self-motivated,
inner emotion that urges him to do and dare anything for the cause of the
nation. They die so that others may live. There are many instances even in the
history of our freedom struggle where for the cause of motherland, many
suffered unimaginable hardships and many sacrificed their lives for the cause
of the nation. Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose,
Bipin Chandra Pal, Chandra Shekhar, Mahatma Gandhi and so many, who had never
cared for their own comfort and they lived for the cause of the Motherland and
die, were the true nationalists.
Since time immemorial, in all the histories of civilization,
nationalism has remained and regarded as a subject of eloquent praise on the
lips of everybody. The love and attachment to one’s motherland are not
unnatural, its root lies in the affection he receives since he is born, plays
nurtures in that land. Everyone has the feeling of nationalism, love for his
country. An unknown poet has beautifully coded the following lines, that shows
the feeling of immense love for the motherland: “O for a glimpse of my
Motherland so fair! 0 for a breath of its sweet-scented air! There let me live
and oh, there let me die! There is sweet silence my dead body shall lie“.
Evils of Nationalism:
Nothing is wrong in loving one’s country, nothing is wrong in
having loyalty to one’s country, but if the love and loyalty become so strong,
that it resulted in hatred for all other countrymen, and other nations it
becomes evil. Blind nationalism dwarfs the mind just as a Chinese woman’s
unnatural shoes compress and distort her feet. Nationalism, when outruns
its reasonable limits, becomes organized hypocrisy, creates hatred for other
nations. Extreme nationalism glorifies war. Nationalism when diverted from the
path of reason and the common good, quite often loses its sacred instincts and
degenerates into an aggressive attitude of nationalism. A nationalist without
high moral and ethical considerations adores his country blindly and treats all
other people of the earth as downright barbarians, deserving for his countrymen
no better treatment. Cecil Rhodes wrote in his will: “I contend that the
British race is the finest which history has yet produced.” Victor Hugo said: “0
France, it is the need of the universe that thou shouldst live. I repeat it
France is necessary for the human race“. It never felt by these men that other
races and people are also created by the same Almighty and not less than their
countrymen.
Many European nations carried out the mission of their
dominance and tried to implant the same by force over other countries.
Nationalism, if mixed with unworthy motives, and self-centered greed for power
and imperialistic motives becomes the worst cause to destroy and destruct the
existence of civilization in the world. The foolishness of an irrational
nationalism can well be seen in the writings of Rupert Brooke who wrote that
when he died he wished to go to an English Heaven.
Owing to such parochial feelings, some of the eminent
philanthropists and enlightened thinkers of the present time have advocated the
idea of cosmopolitanism that means the whole world is the nation of everyone.
The theory of cosmopolitanism discards the boundaries of countries and everyone
is a citizen of the world. It says that in the present age of globalization,
scientific inventions, space research has brought the world closer wonderfully,
so it shall be a folly to talk of nationalism. The ideals of nationalism are
nothing but an orthodoxical narrow thinking concept that has no relevance in
this world of scientific and technological advancement. If we honestly look the
things from the present perspective, lacs of Indians are living well in various
countries throughout the world, they have their allegiance with the respective
country and are emotionally attached to India, their motherland. Lacs of
foreign nationals are visiting India, some settle here, many foreign companies
and their employees are earning from our country, our companies have their employees
and offices settled in foreign countries, the boundaries among the nations have
just remained the boundaries for the sake of getting passport and visas. In
such a situation, talking about nationalism looks redundant. Now people have
started thinking of good for all human race, for all the civilization of the
earth. The idea of cosmopolitanism is, slowly and gradually started, getting
recognition and acceptance nowadays.
Conclusion:
Despite various evils of nationalism, or extreme nationalism,
it is a natural feeling acquired not by any technical means, but by birth and
is a virtue by itself. As loving one’s mother, father, can’t be bad, likewise
loving one’s country is also not bad, but hatred of other nations is indeed the
worst form of nationalism.
Nationalism, if spiritualized with higher moral and ethical
values, and if in apposition to the motto of Abraham Lincon, ‘With malice
towards none, with charity for all‘, becomes one of the most sacred emotions,
worthy of the utmost praise. The nationalism of Hitler and Mussolini is the
worst shape of nationalism, we need nationalism with love for our country as
well as love for all who live and let live with peace, prosperity, and
affection towards all.
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