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A sentiment long lost-once patriotic kids.

Mahnoor.

We are the kids who were brought up patriotic. The kids who used to dream about doing something big for their homeland. The kids who stood in reverence for the national anthem every time they heard it, chanted patriotic songs passionately. Who eagerly looked forward to 14th August every year. But now we have long grown up. Now we are all gripped with an urgency to escape our once beloved homeland. A sentiment that was adored, held so solemnly to our hearts, is long bygone. Dissociation replaces it. Patriotism is dead. Perhaps for right reasons. Nonetheless, it's heartbreakingly tragic, for kids who grew up loving the country as they loved their parents.


We ask each other, What purpose does this country serve us? What benefit is it for us to stay in this land that must have been forsaken by God as well? The land where shackles of class, gender and religious discrimination are indestructible and exploitation and misery thrive at every corner. Where humans become inhumane. And tragedies remain boundless in magnitude and atrocity. A land which makes a mockery out of a religion.


No matter how hard I try to dissociate myself from the dismal reality, the spine-chilling events unfolding everyday shatter my heart. Kill a little piece of that patriotic kid inside me everyday. As a woman, I fear for my safety and sanctity. Then tell me, why should I stay if staying means suffocating?


But what of those who don't have the privilege to leave. The downtrodden who have the stacks aligned against them due to the circumstances of their birth. Because of the gender, class, ethnicity and religion they were born with. Do we abandon them like everyone else?


We once patriotic kids wish for things to be better. We wish to see a bright future here. We wish to stay and use our privilege to help those whose lives are afflicted by sheer misery. We wish to reignite our long lost enthusiasm. But we are not so strong. Atleast not yet.

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22020386
Aug 22, 2021

This post hit so close to home! The recent circulation of videos of men harrassing women are predominantly from 14th august. How disgusting is it to see how entitled men feel about a country whose foundational and political stability involves the effort and voices of phenomenal and revolutionary women. I read this somewhere;

“i want to love this country the way these men love it. But this place will never love me back. i will always be an inch away from becoming a headline.”

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Mahnoor.
Aug 22, 2021
Replying to

Ah, the quote you have shared is so relatable. Echoes the sentiments of us women right now. :(

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Your post was a hard hitting nostalgia for me as I remembered my childhood when I would go to watch parades, make special arrangements for the BIG DAY - 14 August!

But unfortunately, it actually feels like our whole childhood was a dream and now we have waken up to witness the sad and miserable condition of our beloved country.

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Mahnoor.
Aug 21, 2021
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Yes, that's how it is sadly. :(

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I felt that when you said: 'the spine-chilling events unfolding everyday shatter my heart. Kill a little piece of that patriotic kid inside me everyday." Maybe it happens because as we grow older, we encounter the ugly realities of our society and we observe the world around us. Being a woman, this experience even become more scary with all the tragedies happening to women every other day. You are true, patriotic kid inside us dies everyday. I hope our country has a good future...

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Mahnoor.
Aug 21, 2021
Replying to

You are right. I think we gradually lose the relentless optimism we harboured as kids as we grow old and encounter the ugly reality. I wish so too with all my heart that things become better. :(

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Patriotism should be channeled into something positive instead of it meaning you defend and love your country no matter what. Blind love is Nationalism and can be extremely destructive. I think love for your homeland is natural and if we truly are patriotic, our entire focus should be on making it just and safe for all and not just symbolic flag-waving hysteria once a year.

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Mahnoor.
Aug 21, 2021
Replying to

You are right. I read somewhere that "patriotism is meaningless if it does not embrace acts of defiance" which makes a lot of sense. Loving your country means identifying the flaws it harbours and raising voice against them.

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22020425
Aug 20, 2021

Being a privileged man in this patriarchal society, I can empathize with you but I can never truly understand the gravity of the fear because women face it first hand and only they know what it truly feels like. I had hope for this country for a long time but recently I have lost it all. I was never the one who wanted to leave but always the one who advocated for staying and doing something for this land. But now I think its not worth it anymore. And it is just sad. The differences are growing more every day and no one is doing anything about it.

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Mahnoor.
Aug 21, 2021
Replying to

People say hope must always be kept alive. Perhaps that's what we are supposed to do. I am not so sure anymore either. :(

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