Patriotism, Hits rarely — doesn't it?

I can't speak for everyone, but speaking for myself — No one in my world comes with a background of war veterans. Not yet at least. The sense of patriotism in this world of possessions hits one rarely.

" The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. " — Norman Schwarzkopf

Rarely being 15th August and 26 January for sure, whenever India bags a prize, or whenever the Bollywood Cinema releases a patriotic epic. Being a person who just wrapped up watching Shershaah, I am one of the many who must be experiencing this rush of sentiments, one of them rendering patriotism. This post for me is not merely about India or Independence day for that matter, which might make me come across as faithless, rude, and cold to be saying this at all, all the more on Independence Day. It's that time of the year when everyone is having a proclivity for our country, writing rosy things about India, prizing about India, and so on. Not that one shouldn't. However, for me today is not about the love one has for their country. It's about the invaluable sacrifice of the war veterans who are perpetually up and ready to serve their countries and willing to cede their lives just so that we, the civilians reside in peace. They hand over their existence to the country. Where on one hand many civilians do realize this, on the other hand, there is the other second- third who don't at all and the ones who only do on rare occasions. While watching the movie, a question that got to my mind was - What is the feud between these two countries, that they consider killing millions of people worth. Why? The second question which came to existence in my mind was, Why would a person give up their lives, their families, their whole existence? The answer, So that we live in peace. But do we?

It's not about the credit one gives to soldiers on the borders, we do regard them, immensely. Everyone does. But it's about how we make their sacrifice worthwhile. There are people out there ceding their lives for us, for our respective countries. Yet, we don't live harmoniously. The raids, The robberies, the murders, the rapes, the inhumane acts, the planning and plotting, the prejudices, the discrimination, the hatred of us, the civilians. As far as my belief goes, we're wounding their huge sacrifice. The martyrs withered protecting their country. But are we worth their sacrifice? I can't put an end to the feuds between the countries. But what I can do is this. On this very Independence day, I take an oath to be worth their sacrifice. Those people on the borders were also once civilians, they're worth all the good in this world. Even we can be. They relinquished their lives, their love, their families, left everything there was in their world behind. And went on to fight for the country, for us. They deemed us to be something worthwhile. Let us be that pride. Let's not let their families, everything, and everyone they ever kept in their hearts down. Let's not let them down. Let's make every country and all the people within one take to pride in. Let's combat this war behind the wars. I can't speak for everyone but every martyr's stirring life boggles my mind. They have the power to sway the sentiments of one and all alike. I'd like to believe that no one's evil in this world. To end this post I feel the need to say this. "Yeh Dil Maange More" of this world.