Yep, that's the title of my blog post - Pets, Parents and Patriotism. To understand the connection between the 3, read on.
Let's start with Pets. A lot of us have Pets, or there are Pets in your home. Now, if you the question, do you love your Pets, the answer will be a resounding Yes (I mean, will will anyone have a Pet that they don't love? If you do have a Pet that you don't love - that's going to be a whole another blog post.)
Now, if i ask you do you respect your Pet? What would your answer be? First, the concept of Respect for a Pet is quite a alien thing. I know, many will disagree with me saying No, that they respect their Pets. But do you truly respect the Pet? Do you trust your Pet to know what he/she/it wants?Give the pet the space they want?
Many of us take our Pets for granted. When was the last time, you did something that showed respect to your Pet(s)?
With that thought in your mind, think about your parents. Many of us (I am not going to be politically correct, and say "All") love our Parents. How many of us Respect our Parents? I know, I know, people are going to say we all love and respect our Parents.
But, do you truly respect your Parents? I have heard many people crib about their parents (about their likes/dislikes and decisions). If you truly respect someone, would you crib about them to others or would you actively debate/discuss with them about your opinions and come to a common conclusion. At the least you will agree to disagree.
One might say, respect for a person does not mean blind acceptance for everything that a person does. No, I agree it does not. But, without trusting someone, you cannot have a respect for that person. And when you have trust and respect for a person, you don't go around cribbing about that person. And when you say you love a person, you cannot do that without trusting or respecting that person (You may disagree, but this not a negotiable point.)
Got You, Didn't I? Actually wanted to write a longer post, before giving this punch.
Here is the question - why is it taken for granted that people should love and respect their Parents?
And taking that point further - and applying it to Patriotism. Why is it taken for granted that one has to be patriotic towards that country that they were born into? Why should one have love for a nation/homeland in the first place?
After all a nation is not a natural entity (for lack of a better word), one doesn't find a nation in nature. Sure, yes every animal has a territory that it considers its own and protects. But here is the difference, animals don't interfere in the territory of other animals. They don't overuse the resources in their territory.
And, then there is the question can a person have patriotism towards a country other than in which they were born. Can patriotism be driven purely by the ideology or the founding ethos of a country rather than in which country a person was born.
Or why should one feel patriotism itself at all? Yes, maybe it is rooted in the tribal bonding that helped humans survive. But now that we have evolved, should we still be tied to the old notions? Shouldn't one re-examine the notions.
Let's start with Pets. A lot of us have Pets, or there are Pets in your home. Now, if you the question, do you love your Pets, the answer will be a resounding Yes (I mean, will will anyone have a Pet that they don't love? If you do have a Pet that you don't love - that's going to be a whole another blog post.)
Now, if i ask you do you respect your Pet? What would your answer be? First, the concept of Respect for a Pet is quite a alien thing. I know, many will disagree with me saying No, that they respect their Pets. But do you truly respect the Pet? Do you trust your Pet to know what he/she/it wants?Give the pet the space they want?
Many of us take our Pets for granted. When was the last time, you did something that showed respect to your Pet(s)?
With that thought in your mind, think about your parents. Many of us (I am not going to be politically correct, and say "All") love our Parents. How many of us Respect our Parents? I know, I know, people are going to say we all love and respect our Parents.
But, do you truly respect your Parents? I have heard many people crib about their parents (about their likes/dislikes and decisions). If you truly respect someone, would you crib about them to others or would you actively debate/discuss with them about your opinions and come to a common conclusion. At the least you will agree to disagree.
One might say, respect for a person does not mean blind acceptance for everything that a person does. No, I agree it does not. But, without trusting someone, you cannot have a respect for that person. And when you have trust and respect for a person, you don't go around cribbing about that person. And when you say you love a person, you cannot do that without trusting or respecting that person (You may disagree, but this not a negotiable point.)
Got You, Didn't I? Actually wanted to write a longer post, before giving this punch.
Here is the question - why is it taken for granted that people should love and respect their Parents?
And taking that point further - and applying it to Patriotism. Why is it taken for granted that one has to be patriotic towards that country that they were born into? Why should one have love for a nation/homeland in the first place?
After all a nation is not a natural entity (for lack of a better word), one doesn't find a nation in nature. Sure, yes every animal has a territory that it considers its own and protects. But here is the difference, animals don't interfere in the territory of other animals. They don't overuse the resources in their territory.
And, then there is the question can a person have patriotism towards a country other than in which they were born. Can patriotism be driven purely by the ideology or the founding ethos of a country rather than in which country a person was born.
Or why should one feel patriotism itself at all? Yes, maybe it is rooted in the tribal bonding that helped humans survive. But now that we have evolved, should we still be tied to the old notions? Shouldn't one re-examine the notions.
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