A stolen flag. Why did I hide patriotism inside me?
For any time now, I have found that I stopped speaking loudly about my love for Poland. My deep patriotism, which I erstwhile naturally carried in my heart and on my lips, present has become something I like to lay low. Why? due to the fact that in the world, most of all, I'm afraid I'm going to be considered a nationalist. And nationalism is not simply “a stricter patriotism”. It's something completely different and fundamentally wrong.
Patriotism is about love for your own country and respect for others, while nationalism is about putting your own nation above everyone else. It involves attitudes specified as ethnocentrism or national megalomania. This kind of megalomania can lead to separation of the country — not geographically but ideologically — from the remainder of the planet and turning its back on people outside of their own society. The isolated state is doomed to failure, losing in many fields, including the economical field. Citizens' freedom is besides threatened. Does not nationalistic power lead to the formation of a totalitarian system? He's driving.
It is so interesting that an expanding number of Poles vote for nationalists. erstwhile I look at alleged marches and parades "patriotic", on which crowds of nationalists wave our white-red flags in fumes of smoke from rac, I feel physical pain. Our symbols were taken from us. What we see there has nothing to do with caring about the common house. It's a dangerous game for chauvinism, hate, homophobia and racism. Love for the homeland has been confused with contempt for anyone who does not fit their narrow, extremist pattern.
As an unbeliever, for whom the Gospel remains a moral signpost, I see another highly painful dimension. specified an attitude is simply a clear denial of its teachings. Jesus taught neighbour love, empathy and respect to all man—especially the excluded, weaker, "other." Meanwhile, the national banners, frequently accompanied by the cross, carry aggression and the desire for isolation. How can 1 combine religion in God, who is Love, with hatred of another man just due to the fact that he looks different, loves individual else, or where else does he come from?
True patriotism is building, not destruction. It's the concern of all neighbour in our common country. I miss the times erstwhile I could just be a arrogant Pole, without fearing that my flag would be considered a symbol of hatred.
