There is surely some hidden defect in the way we have been brought up.
Is not the slogan of nationality, to a great extent, the root of the evil?
Every schoolboy and schoolgirl is taught the duty of devotion,
or strong attachment, to his or her own country, and every statesman
or public man preaches the doctrine of loyalty to one's native land;
while the man who dares to render service to another country,
the interests of which are opposed to the interests of his own land,
is denounced a traitor. In such cases the individual is never allowed
an opinion as to the right or wrong of the dispute. He is expected
to support his own country and to cry at all times, "Our country,
right or wrong." A politician's best chance to secure votes
is to gloss over the faults of his own party or nation,
to dilate on the wickedness of his neighbors and to exhort his compatriots
to be loyal to their national flag. Can it be wondered at
that men who are imbued with such doctrines become selfish and narrow-minded
and are easily involved in quarrels with other nations?
Patriotism is, of course, the national life. Twenty-four centuries ago,
speaking in the Greek Colony of Naxos, Pythagoras described this emotion
in the following eloquent passage: "Listen, my children, to what the State
should be to the good citizen. It is more than father or mother,
it is more than husband or wife, it is more than child or friend.
The State is the father and mother of all, is the wife of the husband
and the husband of the wife.
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