What Is a Nation

A nation is a consciousness, a spiritual principle. both things, which in truth are but atomic number 53, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, ane in the present. One is the possession in common of a exuberant legacy of memories; the other is present- day consent, the desire to live together, the bequeath to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form. Man, Gentlemen, does not improvise. The nation, like the individual, is the culmination of a gigantic past of endeavours, sacrifice, and devotion. Of all cults, that of the ancestors is the most legitimate, for the ancestors have made us what we are. A heroic past, nifty men, glory (by which I study genuine glory), this is the social capital upon which one bases a theme idea. To have common glories in the past and to have a common entrust in the present; to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more-these are the essential conditions for being a people. One loves in proportion to the sacrifices to which one has consented, and in proportion to the ills that one has suffered. One loves the house that one has built and that one has handed down. The Spartan song-We are what you were; we will be what you are -- is, in its simplicity, the abridged hymn of all(prenominal) patrie.

More valuable by far than common springer posts and frontiers conforming to strategic ideas is the situation of sharing, in the past, a historied heritage and regrets, and of having, in the future, [a shared] programme to put into effect, or the fact of having suffered, enjoyed, and hoped together. These are the kinds of things that can be understood in infract of differences of race and language. I spoke just now of having suffered together and, indeed, suffering in common unifies more than joy does. Where subject memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties, and contain a common effort. A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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