A note on Being Human before being a Citizen

By vinodnarayan on August 16, 2015 • ( 0 )

On India’s 69th Independence day I posted a picture of Nehru and said “Proud to be born in the land of Nehru’ and later as I was thinking over that statement and it kind of sounded foolish to me because that statement does not mean anything because inherently in us there is nothing called a nation.

I remember a friend of mine who once went to Germany and that day was a holiday there and jokingly he asked his German friend “Is it Hitler’s Birthday today?” and the German guy became so angry and pissed off with him… luckily he did not get hurt… So if a German guy does not have to feel ashamed of being born in the land of Hitler why should we as Indians have to be proud of being born in the land of Nehru or Gandhi or even Pichai for that matter. We had no choice of where we were to be born. And we did not contribute anything for these peopel to be who they are.. Saying we are proud kind of satisfies something in us I guess or makes us feel good. I am not saying one should not say it, just that it is foolish if you think about it…

There are some things that go beyond nationality and patriotism that connect us as human beings. Hitler did serious crimes against humanity and is a villian for the world in my opininon. Where as many people including Gandhi, MLK, Nehru and many others have in their own respects in their own piece of world created something that the world (with some exceptions as always) looks up to. None of them were perfect and were as human as us and came with their own set of mistakes and issues. The fact that they were as human as us is what really matters

So if we are proud of one part of them then we should be ashamed of any other part of theirs that we don’t like which we often don’t do, we just say we are proud and ignore any aspects that must be criticized or we outright reject them for our own prejudices and planned agenda be it political or otherwise

That is why it is important that at its core we should connect with everyone as a human being and not as an Indian or american or german. As human beings we are energized with every freedom struggle that happens in any part of the world because that struggle is to gain a fundamental right of the people, the freedom to live independently. But did the struggle claim the life of innocent, was it unfair, you can judge that as a human being always keeping out the national identity you have and you will find an answer, I think…

But then a nation is also an identity in the world we live… An identity that is very much needed and allows us to travel for people to govern and more. While we cannot live in this world without being called a german, or Indian or American or chinese it is important we consider ourselves as a citizen of the world. May be not in paper but at least in our thoughts and minds

I am an Indian but I am a human being before I am an Indian. I understood love before I understood patriotism… I recognized my mother before I knew what Mother India was.