“The cheapest form of pride however is national pride. For it betrays in the one thus afflicted the lack of individual qualities of which he could be proud, while he would not otherwise reach for what he shares with so many millions. He who possesses significant personal merits will rather recognise the defects of his own nation, as he has them constantly before his eyes, most clearly. But that poor beggar who has nothing in the world of which he can be proud, latches onto the last means of being proud, the nation to which he belongs. Thus he recovers, and is now in gratitude ready to defend with hands and feet all its errors and follies.”
----- Arthur Schopenhauer
and it made me think of mixing the two concepts. The recent controversy over sports figures kneeling in protest during the National Anthem, and the counter-protests seen at pro football stadiums today during the opening ceremonies reinforced the linkage of sports and patriotism.
Of the Schopenhauer quote, you could say the same for the kind of "sports patriotism" known as team spirit. Usually, whether in war or sport, it's those who sit and watch who are the most hardened in their convictions of their side's superiority; those actually contending in the battle have a more keen awareness of their side's weaknesses, whether in strategy or skills. I've loved this song for years, but it sure sums up the idea of "my school (or country), right or wrong." Another very popular song is like it, not in style but in sentiment.
I would prefer instead that we sing a song that emphasizes what we've been given as a country and admits our need for humility and guidance, "America The Beautiful", to wit in verses 2 & 3:
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!
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