Do you "love your country"? (And what does it mean to you?)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I understand “love of country” in roughly the same way that a life-long atheist can understand a Christian’s “love of God”. I have a vague intellectual understanding of the idea but nothing visceral. (Actually, it’s more like an atheist who has never discussed Christianity with a Christian, but has heard and read about it.)

And, just as an atheist can be interested in understanding a theist’s fundamental beliefs, I’m interested in understanding “love of country”.

So, do you love your country, and, if yes, what does “I love my counry” mean to you? If no, then do you understand the idea and you don’t love your county, or is the idea of loving your country practically meaningless to you? Or something else …

Thank you.

2

I have a love-hate relationship with my country in the sense that I know what a lucky sum’bitch I am to have been born in a place that was organized around the idea that all people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” but I hate what so many people seem to want to twist that very basic statement of belief into to satisfy their own petty needs for power.

3

Being Canadian, I have no concept of patriotism. There just isn’t any of that up there (RCMP figurines made by Disney don’t count). Being a permanent resident of the US, I am grateful to the government entities that let me come here and make my fortune. I fully appreciate the way I have always been able to live, compared with the way other folks have to live, based solely upon where they were born. I don’t know how to love a country. Being happy to live here, and never wanting to live anywhere else is as close as I can come.

4

I love my country, England, with a passion that defies belief.

What does it mean to me?

Everything

Surely to be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life.

I forget who said that but by God he was right

5

Pints of Bombardier on Monday then, Chowder?

6

I absolutely love my country and would fight for it. DO NOT MISCONSTRUE THAT TO SAY I LOVE FATHER BUSH. I love the land, the liberty and rights I have. I’ve traveled extensively throughout our lovely country, I have a deep seeded love of the land on which we tread here in the US of A. The gov’t has effed up and mucked up a lot of the reputation we have with the world, but I love this land.

7

I’m with the OP. Frankly, chowder’s post sums it up for me. A lot of people feel that way, except it’s their team that’s indisputably the best. I think it’s pretty much identical with religious faith in a particular god. People will swear up and down that it’s totally rational, but ultimately it’s just based on personal feeling and faith.

8

But why? And more importantly, why is that love (generally, don’t know if it is for you) instilled with a special nobility when you can find someone to say the same thing about damn near any nation, including the really nasty ones? When people make statements like the above, I fill in the names of deities and it makes much more sense.

I can see loving a place. I love lots of places. I don’t love every last piece of this country; I’ve hardly seen any of it, for one thing, so how can I know if I love it? I love the ideal of freedom, but that’s something which properly shouldn’t be tied to nationalism, unless one thinks only Americans should be free, or whatever.

9

You have the Bombardier my sweet, I’ll settle for a pint of Tetleys best bitter, ice cold

10

I have a pride in certain aspects of my country which I guess equates to love.

I know that I feel enormously lucky to have been born here and can’t think of another country I would prefer to be a citizen of. Lucky in that I’m from a country with a strong sense of freedom and justice, a country of considerable affluence and opportunity, with a long and fascinating history, a country with long-standing political and social stability and broadly liberal outlook.

This country, whilst not alway living up to its aims, strives to have a strong sense of right from wrong, to do the ‘right thing’ both at home and abroad, to be polite and humble. Many people might disagree with me on some of these things, and sometimes I wonder if some of the things I feel are theoretical rather than reality on the ground, but these are what I feel my country represents and so I see that as a sign of my love for my country.

It’s not all rosy. There are things that I dislike which I’ll save for another discussion, but these don’t overide the points above.

So, guessed the country yet?

11

I think I love the idea of my country more often than the reality of it. Sometimes when I’m far away from it and get odd glimpses of it I think I love it. I love the way it is portrayed in the best of its popular culture – the wide open spaces, the regionalisms, the individualism, the tackiness, the beauty, the optimism, etc. The US can seem like a weird, wonderful, unique place, and maybe in some places it is. But in my (fairly extensive, I think) experiences in it, it’s more often a homogeneous, strip mall kind of country, and it’s then that I don’t love it. I can’t really love a country of sprawl and Wal-Mart and traffic jams and Applebees, and that, I think, is more and more what we’re becoming.

That said, I always appreciate my country, and am incredibly grateful to have been born in a safe, prosperous and free society. So even if I don’t always or often love my country, I can’t hate it either.

Incidentally, I heard that there was some post-war German minister who, when asked if he loved his country, snapped back “Love my country? I love my wife,” and that this was praised and held up as a model for a generation of Germans. If that’s true, I don’t think that’s a healthy attitude or model either.

(On preview and looking at some other responses, I’m wondering if loving a country’s principles is the same thing as loving a country. I don’t think it is. Loving the principles can be part of one’s love for country, but that can’t be the whole story – after all, lots of countries today are founded on the same principles. Loving your country should include loving its principles, culture, land, heritage, people, character, etc., right?)

12

It’s just gotta be England San Vito

13

I love Canada, we have everything here: mountains, oceans, wild areas and big cities. We have, generally, polite, courteous people. We are also, particularly in Ontario, one of the most highly taxed countries. However, with that, come benefits, whether it be medical, well maintained infrastructures or other things.

We are not, by nature, a loudly patriotic nation.

But I’m pretty quick to defend our country and being Canadian. Wouldn’t ever want to be anything else. When we travel to the U.S., or other countries, there is always a “safe” feeling when we cross the border to home.

If my hubby was here, he would be quick to point out our heroics in war and peace. However, I am not nearly as knowledgeable as he in those areas.

I feel proud that we are generally well respected in every country we travel to, which, from what I understand, does not apply to some other nationalities.

What does it mean to me, in the end?

I am Canadian.

14

‘Love’? Well kinda. I’m proud that I live in a land where the majority of the people hold the values I believe in. I am happy we refused to follow Dub into Iraq, that we don’t shun Cuba, that we legitimized gay marriage, that we are proudly multicultural, that we eschew violence and don’t argue that we should be allowed to carry weapons around.

I am happy that we are both prosperous and safe. I am delighted that the people care about the environment even if Harper doesn’t. And by damn, this is a very beautiful part of the planet.

That said, were, (in the worst of scenarios) Canada to somehow change and adopt social conservative values to the extent that many of the things above got repealed (no idea how it could happen, but I suppose anything’s possible), my fondness would vanish and I’d have no problem leaving if there was no way it was going to change.

So I am mighty fond of my country, but I absolutely do not believe in ‘my country, right or wrong’.

15

Sure is. I should have let a better linguist say it for me

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,–
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”

See? When you read stuff like that, you just gotta love it! Brings a tear to me little eye and makes me forget all the little annoyances.

16

I love my country in much the same way I love my wife. We have had some knock down (figuratively!) fights but I would never leave her. My country is not just the land but the government, the people in power locally, the idiot laws special interest groups get passed, the foolish wars we didn’t need, etc. So I have heavy disagreements sometimes, but this is where I stay, and sometimes try to make a difference but never giving up on it.

17

Why what? Why do I love the “places”? I’ve traveles extensively, and from what I’ve seen I have an optimistic view of the people who inhabit our land. Scenic beauty aside, I love the culture and social folkways and mores of the different area of this country. From the ruff rugged southwest, to the open tree-hugg’in northwest, I reside in the Northeast and love the history and stone foundation of which this country is founded. I do not like the massacre of the aboriginal peoples 200 years ago, nor do I agree with some of the current gov’t policy, but I love this nation. What don’t you understand? Just curious?

18

I’m not trying to challenge you, so it’s clear. I honestly don’t understand how love of people, places, and ideas translates into this nebulous thing called nationalistic pride. Would you love those people or places, that history, less if they were from another country? If you’d feel the same way about any place you were born, then why is “love of country” considered a virtue? I can see being a fan of something. I’m a fan of many things. But “love of nation” seems to take on a deep spiritual meaning for many; the implication is that a nation is somehow more than the sum of its parts, and I don’t get that. Again, this isn’t personal to you, just things I have wondered.

19

To me, love of country is a lot like love of family. I didn’t pick my family, they’re not perfect, but I love them dearly because they’re mine, and on the whole they’re great people, so I lucked out there. But love of country leans more towards love of the land itself, the ideals the country was founded upon, the mostly-really-great people who live here. When your family is screwed up, you try to help out; when your country is screwed up, you try to help and make it better. After a certain point of screwed-up-ness, it might be best to leave rather than stay and continue trying to help; but in my view we have not gotten anywhere near that point.

In no way does this imply that my country is the best one out there. Other people love their countries too, which is great and as it ought to be. But this particular country is the one that is mine, and that I love. It will never, ever be perfect, just as no human being is going to be perfect this side of eternity. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of love, respect, and my personal efforts.

20

I wrote a big thing, but it wasn’t that interesting. Basically, no, I don’t have any strong feelings for my native country (the US). Although I’m certainly looking forward to going home and eating lots of food you can’t get in Bulgaria.