"There's really no such thing as a patriot before he's dead. Why? No matter how much hardship he has gone through, if today he utters just one word of regret, he can't be a true patriot. No matter how much of a patriot he has been, if he turns his back on his country right now, then he becomes a traitor."Every moment in life is significant and meaningful.
When we say we will give our lives for something, we don't just mean we will perform the act that will cause our death for that cause, we mean that we will also dedicate every precious moment of our life before then as well.
Somehow today these words spoke to me as I began my household chores, namely cleaning the kitchen. I realized that even cleaning my kitchen, small as it may seem, should be an act of patriotism. If I want to serve my nation, I could first start by cleaning my dirty kitchen, and cleaning it well.
After watching 'American Sniper', patriotism has become more real to me even as a civilian, as I saw that even for our armed services the greatest challenges often come when they return home. In the movie the main character struggled on returning from war because he felt compelled to continue his service yet so far removed from his accustomed means of doing so. Eventually he find his way to contribute by helping fellow veterans also recover from war trauma.
It is the challenge on all of us to find how we can become true patriots and responsible global citizens in our day to day lives, regardless of our occupations.
It can start with a step as small as cleaning a dirty kitchen.
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