Sri Lanka: What is a nation?

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

The nation, like the individual, is the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice, and devotion. A heroic past, great men, glory (by which I understand genuine glory), this is the social capital upon which one bases a national idea. To have common glories in the past and to have a common will in the present; to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more - these are the essential conditions for being a people. One loves in proportion to the sacrifices to which one has consented, and in proportion to the ills that one has suffered.

One loves the house that one has built and that one has handed down.

The Spartan song -"We are what you were; we, will be what you are" - is, in its simplicity, the abridged hymn of every patrie.

Suffering in common unifies more than joy does. Where national memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties, and require a common effort.

A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Comments (0) add comment