Sense of National Identity and the Success of a Nation
When our sports-persons win and our national anthem is played don’t we struggle to hold back our tears? How do we get this feeling? Do our parents, relatives and other people around us keep giving us lectures about nationalism all the time? I don’t think so? Who has the time? In fact we keep lamenting all the time about the problems that India faces as a developing country. We see garbage everywhere, poor sanitation, shortage of water, load shedding, corruption, bad roads, rising crime etc. Yet, despite all this, we love this imperfect country and want to do something for this great nation. This, is the result of our nationality or national identity.
A nation is a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. Nationality on the other hand, means the membership of a nation. According to definition, nationality can be acquired by being born within the jurisdiction of a country, by inheriting it from parents or by the process of naturalization.
In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it”. In a way our country is our world. How many of us actually get the opportunity to cross the Indian shores? And when we do cross the shores the first thing people observe about us is our ethnicity or national identity. No matter, how much we criticize our country, when someone praises it, we do feel a sense of pride. It is perhaps this feeling of national identity, a sense of belonging, a feeling of oneness that inculcates in us a sense of patriotism. Patriotism forces us to think of ways and means to make our nation great. And we feel motivated to work for its progress.
As H.G. Wells once said, “Our true nationality is mankind.” All men and women are our brothers and sisters irrespective of their nationality. We belong to the human race. Where is the need for this division? True. But we must acknowledge that ‘Brain drain’, is a very big problem. Many of our highly educated and trained professionals migrate to developed countries for more money and a better lifestyle. As a result, they contribute to the economic growth of other countries. They acquire low cost quality education at India’s reputed government institutions where every seat is precious and then they migrate. They get a new national identity. How does our country benefit from this? I feel, that in all schools and colleges, a feeling of national pride should be inculcated through different activities. Students should be taught that we are a relatively new nation. In 72 years, we have achieved more than most other formerly colonized nations have.
Our sense of nationality should ideally encourage us to abide by laws laid down in the constitution and to make sacrifices in the service of the nation. Our nation gives us fundamental rights but our sense of national identity should remind us that we also have some fundamental duties. ‘Nation’ is just a concept without people. The success of a nation depends on the success of its individual citizens. Successful human beings concentrate primarily on realizing their personal goals through concentrated efforts.They don’t keep thinking about the nation and they don’t need to. So a sense of national identity is not directly related to the success of a nation but it does lend a sense of security and stability to an individual. A person who is satisfied with himself will naturally feel the need to do good and become a responsible citizen. Realization of personal goals of citizens will indirectly lead to the success of a nation.
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