Patriotism

Aug 15:

The one day of the year where I see my entire Facebook feed filled with nationalistic sentiments, quotes and the whole I miss my India speech. The other possible exception being when we win some cricket match we go all gaga over India. Is this patriotism or just another Facebook wall post like happy *everything* day ( Substitute everything for well everything)

Is patriotism really relevant in these materialistic times? I miss my place but aren't those feelings mostly associated with people( friends, families and the like). I feel there is a misplaced sense of patriotism among the youth today. We are struggling to identify who we are and where we belong and feel a need to be publicly patriotic to prove to ourselves that we are patriotic. ( No offence)

In the global scheme of things though we are just another person in this big wide and increasingly flat world where nationalities seldom seem to matter in the grand scheme of things.

Change

Change is the most powerful thing in life. Its bigger than anything else happening around us. Things change so rapidly and with such ferocity that we are left in its wake constantly with no idea where it is going to lead.

Is change good? Sometimes. Is change bad? Sometimes again. But it is inevitable.

PS: The break from blogging is done and I am now at a new place and in a new role all ready to learn and experience more.

A life is a life

A friend of mine recently watched Phone booth and came up with a question which I was surprised I did not think of when I watched this movie. Why did the pizza guy and the pimp have to die? So they just died so that this guy can be morally corrected? Isn't there any value for their lives?

The more disturbing fact was that it did not seem to affect me. Sure the pizza guy was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time but the Pimp was murdered in cold blood and it didn't really strike at the heart because of what he does and what he represents.

Is that how we are tuned to be? We value a life of a saint and an achiever more than that of a violent offender or just someone insignificant. Doesn't that seem rather inhumane? Isn't a life still a life?

A related quote from the lord of the rings after the felling of an 'evil' soldier:
Faramir: [from the Extended Edition] The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he comes from, and if he really was evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home, and would he not rather have stayed there... in peace? War will make corpses of us all. 

How do *they* do it?

Something about firemen, the police, lifeguards, army and practically every man and woman who put their life on the line to save someone else just does not make sense to me. Even more so when that someone else is whom they bear no relation to or have no idea who they are.

How can they abandon all thoughts of their own lives, their own families, their dreams and aspirations and risk it all for a faceless person. How can they walk in every single day of their lives to work knowing it could be their last. How does one even begin to comprehend that sort of pressure and sacrifice.

But then maybe we are not meant to understand. It is beyond mortal comprehension. Maybe these are the gods we mortals should be praying and idolizing because every minute of every day they are all that stands between one of us and the far beyond.

I still don't get it. How do they do it?