Patriotism and inspiration

    It was in 1945 that the Cold War took its root between USA and USSR which created a lot of tension and uncertainty to the global stability along with huge amount of mistrust and hatred between the two power blocks. If China and USA are moving towards this then it is a dangerous path that can lead to war if unchecked and has global consequences.

    Until 1991 when the USSR disintegrated, it was a bipolar world. After 1991 the world was unipolar with only USA being a big power and holding a diplomatic upper hand on almost all issues of the world. At the break of 21st century, many developing countries have strived and lifted themselves from utter poverty and started challenging the unipolar world order. Among those China is the most successful example which today is a power to reckon and in many ways rivals the US whether it is politically, economically, militarily or diplomatically. How did an Asian country which was hitherto considered as unchanging and unevolving by the west attain this massive achievement?

    The answer to this question is not simple. The credit goes to both the government and the people. The government improved the human quality by investing in education, healthcare and research and development. The vision was quite clear; to become a global power! Even though it started in a humble background by plagiarising the technology of the west, slowly as its manpower became more skilled, the country started research and innovation in new technologies like Super computers, Robotics, Artificial intelligence, Internet of things and the like which are considered to be absolutely necessary for becoming a global power. The investment made during the initial years on human skill development has now started paying off after about a decade. This kind of thinking is called a vision. But just having a vision is like day dreaming. It needs implementation. India has not been short of vision, but it lacks implementation. Implementation is an aspect of governance which requires the will and skill to execute a planned process and also the capability to adopt and evolve different strategies in case of an unexpected scenario. Implementation requires people to be patriotic to the core, have commitment to the motherland and working with a sense of duty and non attachment towards personal gains. Can this attitude be taught to the people or it should be developed?

    Patriotism is an emotion that can develop within individual on its own. But also it can be taught to the people. The government of the day has to instil confidence within the people that whatever it does is for the country going above all political agenda. Difficult decisions have to be taken in the face of political destabilisation and losing of power. The government requires guts to go beyond all political and religious agenda and implement the plan with a single minded goal of serving the nation. When this happens, automatically, people will get a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging goes a long way in inculcating a patriotic attitude within individuals. Once this is established, then the path to reach the goal becomes easy. Each individual starts working towards the development of the country even with all the odds of personal setback. Without inspiring the individuals of a nation, it is not possible to achieve such high goals. People get inspired by many things. An act of kindness, sacrifice, gratitude, sympathy, empathy, compassion, will power, etc. can bring a change in emotional intelligence. The mere thought of wishing good for everyone brings a huge inspiration.

    Finally any inspiration that comes from external is temporary and requires constant revival. Inspiration from within is what sustains the capacity of the individual to go against all odds and achieve the goal. The external inspiration gained must be internalised within our culture. An evolving culture is what is required for this multipolar world. When culture stagnates, it gets degraded. The culture has to evolve in such a way that it inspires people in all walks of life and no section of people from any socio economic background is left out. Please don't just worship the past culture, respect it by evolving so that the future generation worships the culture that we have evolved !