O My Country
The subject of national pride has been on my mind of late. There is the obvious, which concerns the Olympics and the overwhelming, all-consuming, fountain-spouting, arms-waving ecstasy at Canada’s double hockey gold medals. There’s a lot of Canadian pride out there at the moment, despite a government proposal to politically correct a line in our national anthem (which, by the way, I think is dumb and a half).
Then there was the news that Russia has fired their Olympic committee head (or, sorry, he resigned) after perceived disastrous results at the Olympics. Poor bastard. Since when is a committee ultimately responsible for individual athletes’ performances? And if you think firing the scapegoat will make your country feel better, you’re nuts. Still, it speaks something for the pride Russia has in their winter sports prowess.
And then there’s Haiti. The damage is unspeakable, the suffering unimaginable, and this is a wound that will remain open for years to come. But in the midst of their suffering, grief, and sorrow, I think the Haitians have more love for their country than ever.
The other day I had cause to watch this video clip of the Welsh singing their national anthem, and it’s phenomenal how much pride and gusto they put into it. At a rugby game. Chills down the spine, indeed.
Where do you come from? And can you count the ways in which you love your country?
– Jean AAR
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
I’m from Canada and I was ever so proud of us during the Olympics – not just how Canada did – but the whole thing.
And I loved the closing ceremonies where they threw in every Canadian stereotype – I think that’s one of the best things about us – we are great at laughing at ourselves.
LeeB – We love our anthem too. Which is why most strongly objected to changing “in all thy sons command” to “thou dost in us command”. Political correctness is stupid.
EllenAAR – That’s definitely part of it, isn’t it – unconditional love.
Corinna – What kind of Texan “anthems” are there?
Amy – Except maybe La Marseillaise. Which is about letting the wheat fields run with the blood of the enemy.
Donna L. S. – I’m with you all the way.
I am ridiculously fond and proud of my country, Canada. I glowed (‘with glowing hearts, we see thee rise, the true north strong and free’) during the Olympics as our athletes did us so proud.
I was born and raised in Pakistan so spent half my life there and the other half in U.S. I feel all countries are beautiful because land is always beautiful be it desert, mountains, hills, valleys, lakes or plains. I will always love the country of my birth because it gave me a solid foundation and also love the U.S. because I’ve been able to climb up and reach for the stars. As for anthems, I know two anthems and honestly they all start sounding the same because the words mean the same. It’s all about loving your country, respecting the land and giving back to it.
Texans sing a lot of state “anthems”, even at sports events. It’s often as if we pay allegiance to TWO countries, both the U.S. and Texas. (And not always necessarily in that order, either! :-)) Perhaps it is because Texas was once a country of her own. Whatever the reason, most of us are extremely prone to open patriotism toward both Texas and America. I too love people for loving their country, whatever it may be. People SHOULD be proud of their homeland! I find recent PC attempts to subdue patriotism not only offensive but even damaging.
I am totally in love with the USA. I am very much aware that no country and no person is perfect, but I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I also love it when I hear people from other countries praising their native lands. I am around a lot of people from India, and they love their country – and I love them for loving it.
Jean: I do love the Canadian national anthem. Learned a lot of the lyrics when I used to attend baseball games when the Seattle Mariners played the Toronto Blue Jays and both the US and Canadian anthems were played.
I come from the United States and though our politicians do a lot of stupid things, I’m proud that our country is comprised of people from so many different nationalities. I think that is what makes the US great.