Sorry proud Aussies, I dont get you. I dont agree with you. This is not just the Southern Cross-tattooed proud Aussies Im talking about, the VB drinkers watching footy in the bars of Kuta. This is all the Strayalians who pronounce pride in their place of birth, who are the first to grab you in some foreign country and tell you whats so damn great about Straya (or indeed at home – as many of these people haven’t even travelled and if they have it hasnt been past the self-protected enclosure of a tourist resort). I dont get you … particularly when you tell me that Straya is the best bloody country in the world – big, bold statement that is!!!! Ive always thought differently. In fact, the more I travel the more I become convinced that the whole concept of nationality and nationhood is irrelevant. Where do you come from? It shouldnt matter. I was born and have lived in Australia all of my life, and there are things I miss about home when I travel. But Ive also met so many great people from so many great places that I find it hard to maintain that I come from the best country in the world – or that anyone comes from the best country in the world. But to my fellow Straylians - what are we really so proud of? The dumb luck of having been born on a certain piece of land that then becomes yours? And what makes this country so much better than everyone elses – other than your familiarity with it? I dislike the whole concept of nationhood, the way people support their country like its a football team playing in a grand final. Like we have to choose sides. How much better would it be if wed all stop taking pride in the little slices of the globe we happened to pop out in and starting just being citizens of the world? It might sound corny, but it could happen. We could ditch the parochialism and the patriotism and just treat other human beings as other human beings. Im not preaching some naïve ‘opening of the floodgates’ or the erasure of national borders. But as the world shrinks with budget travel and immigration and multi-culturalism and internet connectivity, when you can chat to an Iranian on Twitter or head down to your local Ethiopian place for dinner, we should all be becoming less patriotic, less concerned with coastlines and borders and where we came from, and more interested in the globe as a whole. Forget being a proud Strayalian who comes from the best land of Earth. Forget zealously protecting your patch from other people trying to move in. Forget grouping people by their country so you that you can tell everyone what Germans are like, or what Americans are like, or what Israelis are like. Forget nationhood and patriotism entirely, and just be a decent citizen of the world. Thats something you can be proud of.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 05:46:20 +0000