In wars or war-like scenarios, it is natural for the ordinary citizen to wonder if they have done enough for their nation. These are passionate moments of personal introspection that do shake us to think beyond our self-preserving life routines, around feeding and fending for our loved ones, to actually ask—“Are we doing enough, or have we never done anything at all?”
The answer, though not straightforward, can still be an yes or no. The citizen does get as many (or arguably more) opportunities to live his patriotism on a daily basis as do his countrymen in uniform. The distractions to straying off a ‘showing-the-love-for-my-nation’ path are far more in daily life, with challenges coming our way almost every waking moment. Citizen patriotism has multiple manifestations with ample opportunities for showcase. But how patriotic are we?
A job in uniform is honourable because of the very nature of the calling. The ordinary citizen may feel disadvantaged as most civilian jobs seem to be about earning for the self and the family. But then, a nation exists as much at the border as within. To inculcate a nation-serving outlook into civic life, one has to first start looking around to not just see, but act.
How many of us have committed to doing some sort of voluntary community service at least once every week, or a month? It could be for a charity, a citizen cause, or even a belief, faith or social welfare group. Any personal service given without expectation or personal gain, to fellow citizens disadvantaged by age, abilities or opportunities, too is an act of patriotism.
And then there are the community-life enhancing activities where one can assist the state in its job of keeping our neighbourhoods integrated, not damaging public property for personal use (such as marriages, festivities and festival immersions, etc.), keeping parks, ponds and allied natural resources clean. How many of us have actually donated money when national calamity has struck our fellow citizens?
We tweet and share our social media respects every time a life is sacrificed in the cause of national service. But how many of us have physically visited or met a victim of war, terror attack, or natural disaster, on being aware of such sufferings in our proximity? In moments like these, even just standing with the aggrieved imparts some degree of emotional strength to those battling personal grief.
Little attitudinal changes in our public behaviour can go a long way towards easing and uplifting our national life away from the headlines; and this begins from something as basic as following the traffic rules. How many of us follow the traffic signals always, and have never jumped a queue? How many of us take a four-wheeler vehicle out, only if three or more people are travelling and never take a car out if it’s just about one person driving, unless it’s an emergency? And how many of us make that conscious choice to try public transport over personal vehicles for short commutes? These are not impossible feats or habits. They are normal civilian ways of being in the public in most developed nations with an evolved human life experience. Making the national living experience fairer for more people is also a patriotic act.
The above tweaks for sure will help make our immediate context or experience better, but what about the future of the nation and its coming generations? The rate at which we are abusing our nation’s resources, it won’t be long before the most valued act in a nation’s service is offered by its environment patriots.
It could start with something as basic as segregating waste or keeping our backyard swachh, but for it to be a movement of tangible corrections a culture of environmental vigilantism is necessary among all citizens. How many of us have completely stopped the usage of plastic bags in our lives? Some of us may be considerate enough to not litter a heritage monument or public space, but how often have we stopped others from doing so? Isn’t preserving national property also an act of patriotism?
Finally, as much as the land, natural resources, infrastructure, heritage and the boundaries contribute towards the making of a nation, so do the people living in it. Citizen patriotism also means working towards a socio-cultural environment that creates mindsets that are able to nurture a liberal, responsible, educated, informed and ethical next generation.
Specifically in the Indian social context, an additional and perhaps the most ambiguous question to answer is—how many of us would be okay with our kids having a boyfriend or girlfriend, or marrying somebody from another caste, region, religion or the same sex? Only when a nation’s future citizens are assured of a living context, free from battling for basic personal ‘identity’ issues of love, acceptance and choice, will they be more daring to take actions—“propelling their nation’s public trajectory to higher and better possibilities”, that unceasing utopia of every patriot.
Being patriotic is not the raison d’être of the Armed Forces alone; neither is it about winning wars or feeding momentary jingoism on social media. It involves serving the nation daily and striving towards the upliftment of its socio-culturo-environmental health. It also means that before complaining about the next public mess, we truly and conscientiously ask the question about “what we have done for our country instead of what our country has been doing for us”; and how truthfully patriotic-minded have we been in caring for our nation, its assets and its people in our day-to-day behaviour.