I recently learned that none other than Mark Twain wrote a biography on St. Joan of Arc. He spent twelve years in research and two years writing, he considered it his best and most important work. I have only just begun to read it but it is a fantastic read so far. The narrative got me to thinking about how St Joan was inflamed for love of her Country, and how ardent patriotism nowadays is rare but no less beautiful.
My political thought these days has been trying my best not to think about politics. I didn’t realize how effective it had been until my family started telling me about news and I hadn’t heard anything about it. My political antipathy is driven by a desire to protect my peace and forego grievance about things I cannot control. I am sure my antipathy will give way over time to apathy, but for now I find political news distasteful.
When I was in undergrad, I took a Spanish class and had a professor who was a Cuban expatriot. Towards the end of the semester, an anti-Castro and anti-communist journalist was assassinated, and the professor led us all in a moment of silence. We would enter parts of our textbook that talk about the cuisine of Havana, and he would reveal to us that just outside the tourist parts of Havana lies extreme poverty and starvation. His perspective was extremely moving to me and highly influential–it made me realize what true patriotism looked like. This professor did not wave flags and sing songs and wear patriotic symbols, but he felt deeply the pulse of his country. St. Joan reminded me of this professor–she wept following Agincourt, and felt injustice when the Queen made the Treaty of Troyes to disinherit the rightful King Charles VII. Because of my recent political antipathy, I realized I don’t presently have the same emotional attachment to my country; I realized I do not feel any sense of personal loyalty to my national leaders.
So this raises the question: What is the proper object of patriotism? It seems to me there are three options: A people, a territory, or an office. A patriotic love of a people is a kind of cultural unity. A patriot might say “I love these people because they are my countrymen”. A patriotic love of a territory makes me think of the phrases “fatherland” or “motherland”, a love for the land in which one lives. A patriotic love of political office is like a love of tradition–this land has had a King for time immemorial, and will continue in that way.
A love of people, a love of place, a love of leadership. This calls to mind the image of a family. The place where I live is my home, I love it and take care of it and want it to be hospitable and comfortable and clean and nice. The people who live in my home are my family, and I love them and want to take care of them. The people who lead my family are my parents, and I love them and listen to them. Patriotism is loving your country as if it is your home, loving your countrymen as if they are your siblings, and loving your sovereign as if he is your father. This is why Joan was incensed that Charles VII was disinherited–her “father” was insulted and a stranger declared himself step-father. This is why my spanish professor felt so deeply for his country–he was homesick, and misses his “family”.
It is easy to take ones house and home for granted when you live comfortably in it and are not called to defend it. My antipathy towards politics stems in part from a series of bad “fathers” (ignoring for a moment the confusion of who exactly the sovereign is in a democratic state such as ours). But I have no ill will towards my countrymen, and certainly an affinity for the territory. Patriotism is a virtue because it is a demonstration of filial love, obedience, and charity. It is a higher order of love than mere love of symbols, like most meme-patriotism is represented these days.
Cultivating patriotism requires growth in all the related virtues, and wishing that growth on ones countrymen.
AMDG
Times-Dispatch of Vichy Earth 