Calling yourself a patriot is kind of embarrassing. Although few of us really sincerely dislike the country in which he happened to be born. Why such a contradiction? And is it only linguistic sense?
After another procession or rally of patriots, a friend said: “These loud-voiced guys are not very attractive to me. Looks like they are being driven by puppeteers. But there are among them, no doubt, sincere, rooting for the country. I even sometimes start to complex. I don’t have that special patriotism in me.”
To be honest, I have experienced the same thing at times. In any case, there is some inconsistency and not fully manifested contradiction in this topic. On the one hand, Leo Tolstoy liked to repeat the words of Samuel Johnson: «Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.» On the other hand, in «War and Peace» he wrote about the «hidden warmth of patriotism» of Captain Tushin, whom he loved.
We find a similar contradiction in other classics. Lermontov: “Farewell, unwashed Russia, a country of slaves, a country of masters …” At the same time, we remember from school: “I love my homeland, but with a strange love!”
I note that Lermontov’s patriotism is not fueled either by the military victories of the past, or by the legends of antiquity in general. But it is precisely in a state of such pride that all TV channels are trying to draw us. This has always seemed doubtful to me. I admire Lomonosov and Pushkin even without their prompting. As for Nechaev and Rasputin, what is there to be proud of? Or Alexander Nevsky turned out to be not quite the same as we were read about at school. What to do? But we admit, these are not the thoughts with which a person falls asleep and wakes up. Why does Lermontov love Russia with a strange love? Just think, a trifle — some kind of landscapes and details of life. The silence of the steppes, the swaying of the forests, the trembling lights of the villages.
The matter, fortunately, is clear and simple, which I understood not so long ago. Patriotism is not a principle, not an attitude, not a duty, not a matter of pride, but a living feeling. It is impossible not to love the place and time in which life passed, the language in which the first declaration of love was spoken and delivered, the urban or rural landscape, which soaked happiness or, on the contrary, suffering. Yes, and suffering, because over the years it becomes, if not cute, then expensive.
Here are the graves of relatives. Even if you do not visit them too hard, the proximity of these hills and monuments warms the soul. Echoes in damp, morning front rooms echo with the voices of friends. Yes, and such sunsets, such songs, such feverish disputes and soarings in no other place, it seems, could not and cannot be. And in childhood, in the spring — the smell of pineapple chips. And the metallic smell of earth. An apple, criminally plucked and bitten in July, despite the prohibition of the parents. All these reliefs, tastes, smells, faces, pictures, language are always with us.
Everyone will easily make for himself such a series of wonderful and indelible memories. And he cannot but wish the good and prosperity of the homeland in which he happened.
If, however, to delve into the slogans and demands of political patriots, it is easy to see that they are always more or less concrete. Some are against migrants, others are against gays, others are against globalization, and others are for the revival of the empire. Etc. It is not my task to discuss the content of these requirements. But why, I would like to ask, did you appropriate the title of patriots? It automatically turns out that all the rest are not patriots. But this is a lie. Everyone has the right to put forward certain demands, everyone sees the future of the country in his own way. This is fine. So let’s argue on the merits. Our division takes place within these ideas, and not because some are patriots, and others … It turns out that they are enemies? Look, it’s not even witty.