Just fresh out of a rare strain of fever and with nothing much left to do I last night I sat down a watch a movie called JFK which essentially talked about a conspiracy theory involving the upper echelons of the United States Government for the assignation of the President.
The protagonist (Kevin Costner as the suave New Orleans DA) sets out on the arduous task of proving that JFK was actually set up in Dallas and was a sitting duck anyways. But more than the plot what set me of more thinking were his closing statements to the jury in which he brought out the true sense of "Americanism" which led me to ask my self what does being Indian mean to us?
The belief in their country is overwhelming, the passion to be the upholder of the truth mind boggling and above all the fact that 'America is the greatest country of all'. This fervor I must say is infectious; you can feel a slight pang that neither you nor the world feels the same about your country. I mean when was the last time we ever felt the same for India? I can't recollect in the past 27 years of my existence of any instance where I felt a surge of pride of being an Indian. Yes, the education system, tried to impart us with the same, but could never instill the feeling in us (we had about 200 students passing high school in my batch, not one went for the armed forces to serve the country). Today we talk of war with our bordering neighbors (now on either side!), let’s ask ourselves, would we willingly get drafted and fight for a country?
The movie also stresses on the ideologies of their founding fathers for freedom, justice and liberty for all and above all else calls for patriots to rewrite the constitution if they felt that the government was wrong! Look our feelings for our so called founding fathers, say a Gandhi or a Nehru; Gandhi for me is the slow dude who didn't make war and delayed freedom for us by 20 years. Would you tell your children to tread the path of Gandhi, be a pacifist, wear Khadi, eat frugally and be non- violent throughout your life? Yet when we talk of great leaders we are the first to include his name....
Patriotism, or love for one's own country is a difficult feeling to cultivate and imbibe. Great wars have been won on Patriotism while nations have also withered away due to lack of the same... Patriotism should be that glue that binds the population and keeps their active mindshare, not a political gimmick to garner votes...
So would you fight for your country? Think long and hard before answering it, for the answer now may not be that easy or acceptable.
