Return on investment for loving your country

In a little over hundred years, roughly 180 countries have ceased to exist. They have either changed names, or fragmented into several countries, or amalgamated with other countries to form new ones. For example, Abyssinia was an empire that lasted 800 years comprising territories that included modern-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and parts of Northern Somalia, Southern Egypt, Eastern Sudan, Yemen and western Saudi Arabia. It lasted until the Ethiopian monarchy was overthrown in 1974. Nothing lasts forever. Only thing constant is change.

Most of the erstwhile countries existed in Africa. The second highest number of lost countries was in Southeast Asia, and the third highest was in South America. Whoever remembers Turkestan in central Asia that has been divided into Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and parts of Western China? How many people have heard of Dilmun, which split into Bahrain, the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf?

Lord Alfred Tennyson writes in The Brook: "For men may come and men may go, but I go on forever." It's true for countries with a reverse twist, because countries may come and countries may go but the mankind goes on forever. Even Bangladesh was a kingdom unto itself once before and after the Muslim rulers invaded India. It then languished as provinces of the British Empire and the Pakistani Vampire (the only purpose of that statehood supposedly was for West Pakistan to suck the blood of East Pakistan!) for centuries.

That raises the question why a country should matter to its people. Why should people die for their country when its existence is so transient? Is patriotism a functional emotion anymore when second homes and third homes are the new reality? How does it make sense to make decisive sacrifices for something that doesn't stand the test of time?

These questions should be on the minds of those people whose lives are captive to fractious politics. Why should it matter where an individual lives so long as his right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is assured? Many people have migrated to more advanced countries, perhaps missing their old countries only in nostalgic moments in the same way amputees are haunted by the ghosts of missing limbs.

So what does it mean by the love of one's country? Is it a must-have virtue to embellish our lives, or is it a nice-to-have vantage point to make our lives easy? In others words, is patriotism supposed to make us better human beings? Or does the lack of it make an individual a villain or a culprit of some sort?

Many of our children are being raised today on the ambition of going abroad for higher studies with the underlying intention of finding a better life in those countries. Many of our workers are encouraged to find employment in overseas markets to earn foreign exchanges to fuel the economy back home. It's a fact that manual labourers remit more money to the country than their more educated and fortunate deskbound compatriots, who use most of their earnings to support their lifestyles in their newfound countries.

Intermediate between them are those who return home on completion of their studies with or without some job experience. There are also those who live comfortably in western countries and then return home after retirement to look for the last two phases of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: esteem and self-actualisation. These intermediate groups seek consultancy and business opportunities, also pursuing long-cherished political ambitions on the side through social and intellectual activism.

Helplessly pitted against the ravages of their economic misfortunes are the teeming millions who have neither the luck nor the means to live anywhere else but their land of birth. They have the greatest stake in the country, constrained to be genuinely concerned about its wellbeing because their lives are so intimately tied to its peace and stability. It shouldn't come as a surprise that most of the victims of political violence come from their ranks. They also make up most of the victims of manmade and natural disasters.

These people are the pathetic constant in the midst of periodic changes. National boundaries shuffle, but their lives are bound by the same limitations whether the country is renamed, reshaped or redistributed. It's they who fall prey to political upheavals throughout history, making the highest number of victims but the poorest number of beneficiaries.

The irony of patriotism is that sacrifice isn't commensurate with benefits. As we prepare to celebrate the Independence Day next week, it should be interesting to know whether sacrificing for country makes economic sense. Three million people died and two hundred thousand women lost their honour in 1971. Just a parting thought: How many of our millionaires and billionaires are from those families?

The writer is the Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. 
Email: badrul151@yahoo.com