NeverGiveUp_Boy's Blog

*Background info: I am required to develop a piece of writing based on 5 quotes about patriotism, I chose this one to write on:

“Patriotism is not short ,frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime” – Adlai Stevenson

ESSAY

PATRIOTISM – THE LOVE THAT NEVER STOPS

I never understand patriotism until I packed my bag for studying abroad in Australia. Then I miss everything about my country and family. Patriotism is a broad term that it is hard to grasp at young age. It is often confused with the love for family, for certain memories of the past, but indeed, it is a collection of all of those. The first few night sleeping alone in the foreign country, i finally realise how far my family is and how my life will never be the same anymore. A slow emotional reaction, to a reality that changed too fast to absorb all at once. I guess this is the love for my country, this feeling. But what I did not know is it can manifest to something much bigger and last much longer.

Patriotism can be small, simple things. A memory. A piece of souvenir from your country. A melody of an old song which stirs up memory, in the case of my Mom. She used to listen to “Huong xua” (in Vietnamese it translate to “Aromas from the past”) and cries every time. Patriotism reveal itself inside each person when we have to leave behind our hometown or even move to a new place. it can be a moment of high emotion, laying in bed at night thinking about old times. However, it can also be something bigger.

After 1975, the communist from the North of Vietnam invaded the South of Vietnam, results in a mass of refugee fleeing the country by boats. Many reached their liberty harbour, but a large amount of people died on the way. The fire of patriotism has not stopped burning inside the Vietnamese living oversea since then. My uncle, a veteran in the Vietnam War, keep on fighting in his anti-communism organisation with other veterans around the world. They all hope one day magically Vietnam will become democratic again and communism will collapse. Several people also travel back to their homeland to help the poverty there by doing charity and volunteer work. The love for our country never ends after more than 40 years. Some have been fighting in peace for a lifetime literally.

So to correct Adlai Stevenson statement – “Patriotism can be a short, frenzied outburst of emotion, but it can also be the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime”. I thought I knew how patriotism feels like; I thought I knew about my country; but as I age, I realise I know nothing much about it at all. It is this vast vacuole inside my soul, waiting to be explored more and filled with even more love and memory.