The whole point of patriotism has been limited to people who fight. If
you join armed force for your country you are called a true patriot.
Other than that you are barely called patriot. Your patriotism is
rarely noticed.
OK, believed besides armed patriot rest all
patriots enjoy convenient patriotism. They have not risked their life
in so called warfare, which in my point of view is nothing but a mere
political insanity, ego clash of bureaucrats where they send commoner
to fight and claim victory.
Lets talk of soldiers. The other
day I was watching an Indian movie called Heroes. Two guys setup for a
journey to prove their point 'why not to join army'. They come across
various situations where they are confronted with the facts of a
soldiers life. They become aware of how a soldier sacrifices his
personal happiness in order to save his country from being eaten up by
others.
I don't think saving your country by killing other
soldiers is an act of a true and a complete patriotism. You might be
patriotic to your country, but u are not patriotic towards the world,
towards humanity. You are machines. Machines operated by selfish
politicians, who in the name of patriotism want to claim their victory
wherever they want.
For
me, if I have to consider any soldiers patriot, I would consider all
those soldier who fight for United Nations peace keeping are true
patriots. They go beyond borders, to protect people. I would consider
Nepalese soldiers to be the most patriotic people in this world. They
fight for India under Gurkha Brigade, They fight for United Kingdoms as
Gurkha battalions. They fight for United Nations to bring peace in
Africa and middle east. I consider American soldiers to be patriots who
are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan to establish peace over there. They
are not fighting for America. They are not in their land hiding and
shooting at their enemies. They are actually at the foreign soil trying
to fight for them.
Its just my point of view.