Character of a Nation

Perhaps it is a coping mechanism of an immigrant- to justify foray into distant lands- I have never found convincing moral arguments that establish an adamantine obligatory role of an individual to a nation. Whether native or adopted country. Sure there are social and legal responsibilities. And sentimental affiliations and commitments. But I cannot muster an inviolable bond to a nation that chains me to the entity of a nation. To its glories and its shames.

Yet, I realize I am not the norm. We do commonly affix our claims to the grandeur of a nation and blush in shame to its odious deeds. And we often have simple characterizations of nations: “shithole countries,” “greatest country on earth.”

If indeed nations have characters, what would be the character of the country I currently live in? As I have pondered over this, I have found myself lingering around the question of why does character matter anyway? The answer I have settled to is closest to one of the basic tenets of my medical profession– “first do no harm.” Character of a nation is of relevance for the harm it can do. For the collective violence it is capable of inflicting on individuals. This, in my mind, pales in comparison to any good it can do. For the good has no ceiling, but the harm has a distinct inflection point and is borne of volition not of advances of human capabilities– an avoidable outcome.

Therefore, if I were to investigate the character of nation, I would be inclined to seek the victims of its violence. The suffering is truly understood only by the victims. We may grasp for the truth through empathy but you need to be a victim to authentically understand the nature of crime that inflicts the suffering.

If we were to canvass the victims of this country, what might we find? In the suffering of children in warehouses with their parents after being grabbed by violent masked men. In a shrieking woman on a passenger seat with car windows being thudded and shattered by masked men; violent language and shouting in the background. In a hijab-clad student walking on a sidewalk, suddenly surrounded by masked people, grabbed and shoved into an unmarked vehicle. In men running down the ladder while working on a roof after seeing violence approaching the workplace. In mothers and children self-constrained in the house out of the fear of being snatched randomly on the streets or at school. In a kindergarten child being reported by their teacher to solicit violence against the student. In faces exposed to gun barrels and vicious eyes. In dissenters threatened by state officials for expression of opinions. In foreign children deprived of lifesaving medicines and vaccines that were supported and available just sometime ago. In a distant mother denied travel visa and demanded $15,000 deposit to be able to go see her immigrant child.

The malice readily annuls the grand claims this country used to exhort. Unless you are a beneficiary of the violence, several things that you used to have simple meanings no longer bear that innocence. Statements like freedom, rights, entitlements, truths, facts, righteousness, intelligence, knowledge, expertise, respect, class have utterly perverse new interpretations.

Unless you are the perpetrator or perpetrator adjacent, you as a citizen of this country, I surmise, would be droopy in shame for the character of the country.

We can not, however, discount the goodness in this same country. Where in the world do you see privileged native citizens risking their lives and precious few even committing the ultimate sacrifice to protect their neighbors who are culturally and legally foreign? That is an expression of human development at its acme.

To me, that is ultimately the contradiction we deal with in simplistic characterizations of nations. Yes, we can outline the prevailing tendencies of a nation in simple characters. And you can dwell on the shame of this nation at the moment. But as an individual I refuse to bear the shame of this nation. Rather, I dwell in admiration and solidarity with the good few who in equal measure are countering the nadir of the human condition.