REBIRTH OF NATIONAL PRIDE?

Feb 28, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It is not unusual for Guyanese to feel emotional whenever their national flag is raised. The Golden Arrowhead has that effect on people, because it is not just the symbol of Guyana’s nationhood, but also a link between a Guyanese and his or her homeland.
Guyanese have always felt a sense of pride about their homeland. They were born here and have roots here. They are connected to their homeland by birth, and it is these ties that are the source of national pride.
National pride is about having love for one’s country. A person’s love for his or her country is related to the fact that the person was born or raised in that country and therefore has a deep connection to it.
A person can have national pride without his country being rich. Even citizens of the poorest country in the world feel a sense of pride. When Guyana was the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, this fact did not reduce the sense of national pride which people felt about the country. Whether the country is rich or poor, people will not love it less.
Size does not matter. It does not matter whether the flag being raised is big or small, this should not increase or reduce the sense of national pride. If you love your country, then the size of the flag does not matter.
National pride has nothing to do with where the flag is being raised. If you love your country, you will love it regardless of whether the flag is being raised in New York or in Mabaruma.
National pride has nothing to do with the type of government that holds power. It does not matter whether there is an authoritarian, totalitarian, one-party or democratic government in power, people can still feel a sense of pride about their country. The nature of the government has nothing do with the love of country.
It does not matter whether it is the PPP in office, the PNC, the WPA or the United Force, people still love their country. The party in office has nothing to do with a person’s love for their country. A person will love their country regardless of who is in power.
National pride is about unconditional love for your country.
It does not matter who is the President of the country, people will still love Guyana.
The claim therefore that a sense of national pride has recently been restored is insulting to all Guyanese. It is a claim which says that it is only recently that people have begun to love their country. This is an insult to Guyanese.
The feeling that Guyanese felt last Tuesday at Cuffy Square when the national flag was raised and which moved many of them to tears was not a rebirth of national pride. These persons who were moved to tears did not experience a restoration of national pride. They did not love their country less prior to last Tuesday. However different they felt had to do with another sense of pride.
If they understand the source of that other pride they were feeling, they will better understand why this country is the way it is.

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