How does one hate a country, or love one? …I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills, but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry? Then it’s not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That’s a good thing, but one mustn’t make a virtue of it, or a profession… Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope.
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
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I understand and appreciate Ursula Le Guin’s thought. For me, national borders are not immutable and eternal boundaries but countries are more than/different from merely geographical coordinates.
It is a good thing for people to understand and finesse their overlapping and even competing allegiances and identities as citizens of their particular country, as part of the “brotherhood of Mankind” and, dare I say, as citizens of a heavenly country as well.
Geographical, physical, cultural, political, spiritual lines are not necessarily imaginary nor exclusive. Sometimes, we get to show kindness to and receive hospitality from “strangers” from the other side of various lines. That is a true joy.
National pride is bullshit, but who cares? I don’t like Mexico, I don’t even like Canada -but I don’t hate anybody. I suppose that I wouldn’t mind it if some decided to resort to using Mexicans on the border as target practice, but I wouldn’t wish the same for Canadians. Of course, I didn’t mean to contradict myself -I just don’t like being invaded by another country because it is an act of war. Some traditions are worth keeping, it is what we invest our authority in; and when millions of invaders come, whether by foot or by airdropped paratroopers, it is still an invasion to prepare for.
If one does not possess the will to stand and fight for their love of country, then it means another WILL sooner or later, as history proves, come and take it from them.
We are not only divided by borders and fences; we are divided by principles, philosophies, traditions, and perspective. Nobody has the right to force their will upon me, especially on my land in my own country. We must draw lines because we are NOT all the same, we are NOT all perfect and beautiful, we are NOT one people with one cause and a unified sense of understanding.
And we never will be. This is what some wish to change, and some want to do it for control; others because they have read too many romance novels.