Why not emigrate?

ChrisD(RJ) chrisd at russiajournal.com
Tue Jun 4 01:36:02 PDT 2002


Should we love our country just because we're born there, or does it have to earn our love. Didn't Burke say that to be loved, one's country must be lovely?

Doug -----------

Russia isn't "my country" (I was born in Germany, frew up in the states and have a US passport) but I certainly do love this amorphous thing called "Russia." I want Russia to do well and I want people to feel proud of being Russian. I get a thrill on Victory Day. I have absolutely no intention of leaving. And Russia by no means can be called "lovely." It is full of injustice, squallor and misery. But I still love it, whatever "it" means (geographical area? people? culture?).

I am frankly baffled by this whole love of my country thing. I mean, what country is mine? I was born in Germany to a German mother and American father. One of my grandparents fought in the Wehrmacht; my other grandfather fought the Japanese in the Pacific. I lived most of my life in the US and now live in Russia. Which country is "mine"?

Chris Doss The Russia Journal



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