Respect Your Flag, Respect Your Country
What happened to national pride? When did patriotism or reverence of a flag become synonymous to backwater ignorant fools and Americans?
Not too long ago, there was a post on the Hetalia community about proper flag etiquette. For the most part, people were congratulating the poster for bringing this issue to light. However, there were a few who added that a flag is viewed as nothing more than a piece of cloth dyed in a particular color scheme and pattern that is supposed to stir feelings of patriotism during soccer matches.
Oh, I’m sorry…“football.”
I’m not trying to impose “the American way” on Europeans or whatever. I know you’re not going to listen anyway.
So, let me digress to the meat of my argument.
A flag isn’t simply a piece of cloth, but rather a symbol. A symbol of a nation: the people, the culture, the government. It is everything good and everything bad about a country wrapped into a few colors. It’s the ideals of the country. It’s the people who fought for the ideals of the country. It’s the people who died for the country’s right to live. It’s what the country-the people-were before, currently and where they could be.
You can love the flag, be moved to gushing tears when the national anthem plays. You can burn the flag, hating everything it represents and more. I honestly don’t care.
The underlying issue here is feeling something for a flag. Even if a flag is being burned, the person or persons burning the flag doesn’t believe it’s just a piece of cloth dyed in pretty colors and arranged in a specific pattern.
I’m not asking to love your country, or even to hate it. But to understand the flag is a powerful symbol. If you happen to fall into the category of feeling somewhat good when it comes to the flag and country it represents, please treat it with respect.
And I ask those, the few who read my non-Hetalia posts, when did being proud of your nation, i.e., patriotism, become such a bad thing?
When did being happy that you come from a particular country be equated with close-minded jingoism?
Why don’t you feel anything when you see the flag of the country that has raised you?
I guess if the anti-Obama post was sure to get me some bad comments, this one will too.
Cheers,
The Musubi7